Australian computer scientist Craig Wright, who claims to be Bitcoin’s original inventor Satoshi Nakamoto, has supplied a document supporting the origin of the name.
In an interview with the news outlet Modern Consensus, Wright provided evidence of a document from an article dated Jan. 5, 2008, a year before the original release of bitcoin. The article was pulled from JSTOR, a digital database of academic journals, and concerns an individual named Tominaga Nakamoto who lived in Japan between 1715 and 1746.
According to the copy provided by Wright, the document includes a handwritten note that says,
Nakamoto is the Japanese Adam Smith. Honest Ledger + Micro Cash. Satoshi is intelligence History. Not too hard.
Wright claims to have chosen the name Satoshi Nakamoto in honor of the Tominaga Nakamoto outlined in the article. Wright explained how Tominaga’s economic views were similar to his own,
In part, yes. He wrote about money and honest money and the rational nature of things. The shogun [feudal ruler] at the time was in financial crisis, and economic austerity. […] I like the description of him, and I got into his brother, Tōka. ‘Nakamoto was upright and quiet but impatient in character’ and I thought: ‘That sounds like me.’
Wright said the ‘Satoshi’ portion of the name means “intelligent learning” and refers to having acquired knowledge from his ancestors.
Despite Wright’s claims, he hasn’t so far been able to sign transactions associated with bitcoin’s Genesis block, which would prove he did indeed create the flagship cryptocurrency. So far, documents he provided and other types of proof have been rejected by most of the cryptocurrency community.
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