
Satoshi Nakamoto denies being Dorian Nakamoto - citricsquid
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=504715.0
======
pdeuchler
Hmmmmm. Assuming the post was made by the actual Satoshi...

Dorian Nakamoto _is_ Satoshi: This is an attempt by him to throw people off
his scent, which would be foolish and desperate since chances are the millions
of eyes focused on him will find more concrete proof than the Newsweek
article, rendering the posting moot. Almost guaranteeing the drama will
continue, if not whip it into a larger frenzy.

Dorian Nakamoto _isn 't_ Satoshi: An attempt to absolve someone of harassment.
Noble, but not wise, since now he will have to continue to disprove serious
accusations of his identity, or else innocent people will be harmed again. And
the corollary, if he _does not_ publish a refutation people will assume it's
tacit agreement. People will continue looking for him.

It's late and I know I didn't think of everything, but I can't see this being
a winning move by Satoshi in any scenario.

My personal theory? Dorian was a member of a crypto group that eventually gave
birth to Bitcoin, but he was never part of the implementation. Maybe he
thought of the original math/idea, so they named their pseudonym after him in
his honor? Probably not true, but fun!

~~~
azcoder
Dorian == Satoshi [1]

It's a desperate attempt to mislead.

[1] Here is Dorian making an in-person bitcoin purchase in July 2011:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7354326](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7354326)

~~~
pikachu_is_cool
That is not a source. That's a random comment on the internet.

~~~
duaneb
Too true. I depend on hacker news for many things, but being secure is not a
bet I'd put money on. There are ways of making more provable claims in either
direction--unless it's either attested multiple times in the past (so as to be
difficult to doctor) or it's cryptographically signed or there's a convincing
prosecution, I don't think we'll be confident about it.

------
jnbiche
Even more interesting: look who signed Satoshi's key on April Fools Day of
_last year_ [1].

[http://sks.pkqs.net/pks/lookup?op=vindex&fingerprint=on&sear...](http://sks.pkqs.net/pks/lookup?op=vindex&fingerprint=on&search=0x18C09E865EC948A1)

(ignore the signature from today, anyone could have done that in the brouhaha
following today's disclosures)

Based on that, it looks pretty clear to me that Dorian Nakamoto decided to
"latch on" to the Satoshi Nakamoto founder's myth, either as a way to boost
his reputation/ego or as some practical joke (or both!).

That or Satoshi the Founder is trolling us all.

1\. Originally noted a few moments ago by mpfrank on bitcointalk.

EDIT: Duh, it's fake. Obviously, it's possible to set your system clock back.
I was so intrigued I wasn't thinking clearly, even after I pointed this very
"attack" out during the Ed Snowden GPG affair. Sorry folks, maybe if it were
timestamped in the blockchain.

~~~
adamnemecek
Lol at the John Titor reference

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Titor)
(for the uninitiated)

~~~
tonyarkles
Hah, I caught it right away and chuckled, especially since it's got the
timestamp faked back to 2001.

------
jbaudanza
Direct link to Satoshi's post:

[http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/bitcoin-open-
sour...](http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/bitcoin-open-
source?commentId=2003008%3AComment%3A52186&xg_source=activity)

~~~
lucb1e
Why does this post matter at all?

A. This account was hacked and it doesn't matter. This scenario might be
uncovered if ning.com discovers a breach.

B. This is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, and s/he is trying to
clear Dorian's name.

C. This is Dorian Nakamoto and he is trying to clear his name.

We can never distinguish between B and C, so I don't see the value of posting
such a comment, and I'm pretty sure that the inventor of Bitcoin would
understand this as well.

------
danielnaab
I'm confused by all this. I find the drama interesting, but Newsweek quoted
this:

    
    
        "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss
        it," he says, dismissing all further queries with a
        swat of his left hand. "It's been turned over to other
        people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have
        any connection."
    

Did the reporter really lie about this statement? That seems like really a
massive stretch, to me.

~~~
ufmace
The trouble with that statement is that, even if you believe it's a verbatim
quote, it isn't clear exactly what he said that in response to. We're meant to
assume that it's a response to something like "Are you the creator of
Bitcoin?", but the fact that the question isn't part of the quote implies that
it isn't that clear.

This guy was involved in classified Government work at several companies, and
the question could have been either about that, or vague enough that he could
have misinterpreted it as being about that, especially if he had never heard
of Bitcoin and had no idea what it was.

The quotes are a little questionable too. How many people really believe that
an average street cop in a small town in California would say "This is the guy
who created Bitcoin? It looks like he's living a pretty humble life." It's
entirely possible they've been massaged a bit to be shorter and more clear.
It's not like there's a recording of the conversations, at least not that we
have access to.

~~~
gamblor956
1) Temple City does not have a police force. It is part of LA County, and its
officers are provided by the LA County Sheriff.

2) The LA County Sheriff definitely knows what Bitcoins are. LA is a major
drug scene.

------
naiyt
What a crazy bunch of events in the Bitcoin world today.

Of course, this isn't necessarily proof that Dorian isn't Satoshi. (I
personally don't think that he is, but I guess we'll see.) Regardless, it sure
will be nice when the media stops hounding this guy. Especially if he really
isn't Satoshi. This could have the potential of completely ruining somebody's
life, particularly one who seems rather private like Dorian.

~~~
saraid216
Isn't it convenient that, right when there's a minor cascade of failures in
Bitcoin related things, a journalist from Newsweek just _happens_ to figure
out who Satoshi Nakamoto must be?

~~~
Crito
Do you have a hypothesized conspiracy or causal link that you would like to
share, or are you just commenting on coincidences?

~~~
saraid216
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7357862](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7357862)

~~~
Crito
I think that is entirely plausible, but I don't really see how Newsweek comes
into it. Having a fall-guy in case the shit hits the fan is a bit different
from throwing the shit at the fan yourself (the NSA tipping off Newsweek?) and
having a fall guy for that.

------
bhaumik
New video released of Nakamoto at AP denying any role in Bitcoin:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrrtA6IoR_E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrrtA6IoR_E)

------
josephagoss
This is likely to be the admin of the site perhaps? Or a hacker?

I would have expected the real Satoshi to sign a message from his known
address making it certain it's him.

~~~
joeyh
Unless he's

a. lost/destroyed the key

b. purposefully keeping it uncertain

~~~
greendestiny
c. Hiding out at his kids house where he doesn't have his keys handy but knows
his password.

------
ck2
So this guy has had a stroke and cancer.

Does anyone care the stress might kill him? I guess not.

How about we leave him alone.

~~~
mangeletti
People are concerned about the origins of something that has the potential of
changing humanity (for better or worse) and dethroning the existing financial
hegemony. I feel bad about all the cameras being shoved in his face, but
there's nothing wrong with people inquiring.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Holy crap, get over yourself. Bitcoin is a flash in the pan fad. Maybe
eventually there will be a cryptocurrency that's worthwhile but bitcoin having
the "potential of changing humanity" is utter bullshit. Also, your argument is
completely ass-backwards. It doesn't matter how important the issue is, means
are just as important as ends.

Look at it this way, consider some other examples. Finding out whether or not
someone is a pedophile is extremely important, therefore throwing around
baseless allegations is warranted regardless of the impact it has on someone's
life. Stopping terrorist activity is important and lives potentially hang in
the balance, therefore torturing someone on the basis of limited evidence or
limiting people's freedoms or discriminating against people because of their
race is justified. It's all variations on the "won't somebody please think of
the children!" argument. The seriousness of the issue does not and should not
change the importance of protecting an individual's privacy, their rights, and
their assumption of innocence.

If you thought that your neighbor had the secret to curing cancer that doesn't
give you the right to break into his house and beat the shit out of him until
he told you what it was. The privacy of Dorian Nakamoto is a slightly less
serious issue but it's still important.

~~~
Karunamon
>Bitcoin is a flash in the pan fad.

Huh. I swear I've heard such comments before..

    
    
        "This internet thing isn't going to go anywhere"
              -- Most companies, early 1990's
    
        "No wireless, less space than a Nomad. Lame."
              -- CmdrTaco, the original iPod release
    
        "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
              -- Prentice Hall editor, 1957
    
        "I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones."
              -- Linus Torvalds
    

Keep a bit more of an open mind, hm? Things have an interesting way of
catching on.

~~~
SideburnsOfDoom
This is the "they laughed at Galieo" Gambit
[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Galileo_gambit](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Galileo_gambit)
It's a lot older than your examples and is a reliable crutch for quacks.

Yes, most important advances are initially dismissed. But almost all things
that are initially dismissed are not important advances. You cannot infer
importance from initial dismissal. Dismissal does not in itself make anything
more likely to be important.

~~~
Karunamon
Indeed. The only thing this proves is that people are really, _really_ bad at
determining what things are going to catch on and which aren't.

Which is why I take such "Feh! Bitcoin is a fad!" statements as the uninformed
nonsense that they are.

~~~
icebraining
_The only thing this proves is that people are really, really bad at
determining what things are going to catch on and which aren 't._

No, it really doesn't. It just proves that in some particular cases, some
particular people were bad at determining that.

------
acjohnson55
If I were Satoshi (Dorian) Nakamoto and I wanted people to leave me alone, I
might post as Satoshi and tell people I'm not Dorian.

If I'm Satoshi Nakamoto and I'm not Dorian, I might post as Satoshi to try to
get people to leave Dorian alone. But that's a pretty feeble attempt. If he
cared enough to get people to leave Dorian alone, you'd think he'd come up
with something that provided a bit more proof. Otherwise, why bother breaking
silence?

------
dbroockman
Should we change our beliefs based on this post? Based on Dorian's denials
today, isn't this post just as likely in the world in which Dorian is Satoshi
and the world in which Dorian is not? I don't have a strong belief one way or
the other, but this doesn't seem like good evidence.

~~~
vl
More interesting question why people even care? I doesn't really matter if
this guy or _anyone else_ is creator of bitcoin. Bitcoin is already
established, lets say we know for a fact Al Gore invented bitcoin. What
changed? Nothing.

------
onewaystreet
The "real" Satoshi Nakamoto coming forward after all this time just to say he
isn't Dorian Nakamoto seems kind of suspicious to me. It's not like Dorian
Nakamoto is the first person to have been accused of being Satoshi.

~~~
strlen
We can only speculate, but I'd imagine the real Satoshi is a human being and
doesn't want an uninvolved senior citizen (and his relatives, including a 90
year old mother) to be made targets for violent crime.

It's highly ironic that the media paints cryptocurrency as tools for a
coldhearted clique that only cares for their own material wealth, yet they're
the ones cruelly exposing someone who has done them no wrong and (in the case
of the Newsweek journalist) refusing to apologize. What happened to kindness
and respect?

~~~
dinkumthinkum
All you people talking about violent crime .., I mean, what, do you think the
Bloods and the Crips are following the world of bitcoin? I think the bigger
story here, much more interesting than whether this person is Santoshi, is the
kind of sociological story of nerd obsession with and belief systems about
Bitcoin.

~~~
flurdy
LA gangs contain a lot of people of which at least a few will be clued up on
Bitcoin. And quite a lot more will be clued up now Dorian has hit main stream
news.

Also a few desperate out of work in heavy debt old IT workers might do
something stupid.

But I would be mostly worried about the mob. Italian and Russian mafia is
reputed to create a large part of their wealth today by online scams and
phishing, so they will have people that are fully aware of Bitcoin. And have
no qualms visiting people or their relatives to chop off a few fingers.

After all I don't think the Silk Road and its compatriots was run by innocent
people...

~~~
dinkumthinkum
You haven't explain why he and his family should be anymore paranoid by fear
than any other moderately wealthy people. Why don't all your mafia people just
watch CNBC?

~~~
strlen
"$400m" is not moderately wealthy, it's extremely wealthy.

Most moderately or even extremely wealthy people are obscure. One of the
wealthiest people I've worked for had a saying: "it's good to be wealthy but
not famous." He dressed like a slob, drove a generic Japanese car, lived in a
moderate house but in Los Altos (i.e., given the money he went for a safer
location as opposed to a gigantic house), and so forth... He never once talked
about finance issues despite being involved in angel investments, exits,
etc... Most importantly, you'd never see his name in a press release much less
in a newspaper story (except _once_ I think, where he was referred to as an
engineer as opposed to his actual title).

However, Dorian Nakomoto's situation is far worse in that he's perceived as
wealthy, but actually isn't: so he can't afford security, lawyers, a gated
house (remember, he went through foreclosure -- he can barely afford a house
at all!), and so on forth... He's sixty five years old, his mother is 90. He
can't run, he's post-stroke so he likely won't be able defend himself even
with a firearm. He also has much more at stake than others: he can't simply
hand the home invaders or extortionists the money if, e.g., one of his
relatives is kidnapped. Is this so hard to understand? Do you personally hate
bitcoin so much that you're willing to be an apologist for endangerment of
someone who isn't even involved in bitcoin?

------
Varcht
Satoshi's Dilemma

Satoshi has created a new currency, a cryptocurrency. The currency has become
more popular and valuable than Satoshi could have imagined. Satoshi now holds
almost $1 Billion of his new currency. Due to the currencies psuedo-anonimity,
low liquidity and it's value in illicit trade it is far too dangerous for
Satoshi to cash in and reveal himself...

~~~
nly
> Due to the currencies psuedo-anonimity, low liquidity and it's value in
> illicit trade it is far too dangerous for Satoshi to cash in and reveal
> himself...

\- None of Satoshis coins can be linked to illicit trade because he mined them
himself.

\- Low liquidity isn't really a problem, the Bitcoin community is so fanatical
that any coins held by Satoshi would likely sell at a premium... even without
the fanclub, he'd certainly make enough to live comfortably for the rest of
his life even if he couldn't liquidate all his holdings.

\- The same fanclub seems quite fierce in defending Dorian/Satoshi.

\- The tax situation has been official clarified in the UK. Now its recognised
as a Capital Gain, US citizens can presumably come here to sell Bitcoin and
avoid double taxation under tax treaty? (Possibly, I'm not an accountant or a
lawyer)

~~~
adventured
If Satoshi still has his ~$400m in bitcoins, he could also likely strike a
great deal with someone like Andreessen Horowitz (the cash), maybe with
coinbase (build it), to create a sort of bitcoin bank (at a discount to his
holdings in exchange for the liquidity to exit). It would enable a rather
unique liquidity tool, sort of like a central bank; the new entity could
provide bitcoins to bitcoin service businesses on demand for a fee (eg if
they're having a hard time getting bitcoins or for any reason really).

------
gasull
P2PFoundation.ning creator, Joseph Davies-Coates, confirms Satoshi's
registered account is real:

[https://pay.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1zs4z2/p2pfoundati...](https://pay.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1zs4z2/p2pfoundationning_creator_joseph_daviescoates/)

------
andrewljohnson
Is Satoshi saying he's not Dorian evidence of anything? That could also be a
ploy to try and throw off the scent, as much as it might be Satoshi trying to
save this random sap.

This reminds me of the knights and knaves puzzle for some reason:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_and_Knaves](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_and_Knaves)

------
pirateking
You can never hope to discover the truth behind the fiction of Satoshi. The
closer you think you get, the further fiction will hide the truth.
Indisputable evidence is nice, sure - but knowing is not being[0].

The man is a legend for a reason and will remain that way, regardless of
anyone who claims or is proven to be, or not be him.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_man_fallacy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_man_fallacy)

~~~
BrandonY
Sure, it seems like every time you get to the whole truth, the truth just
divides itself into smaller and smaller pieces and falls out of your hands.
Eventually, though, there must be some fundamental smallest unit of truth that
is much smaller than an entire truth. We should come up with some sort of name
for this smallest possible division of Bitcoin truth....

------
obilgic
This does not prove that he is not Dorian Nakamoto, it only tells us that
he/them is still alive.

~~~
krapp
It doesn't even prove that unless and until it can be proven that the real
Satoshi Nakamoto is the one who posted through that account.

------
cjbprime
"That's just what the real Satoshi Nakamoto would say!"

------
elwell
Video of right before the 'car chase' of journalists:
[http://instagram.com/p/lNv9-_QaNF/](http://instagram.com/p/lNv9-_QaNF/)

~~~
thatusertwo
'I want free lunch, I'm gonna go with this guy"

~~~
elwell
a genius

------
sheetjs
At this stage, given the conversation about possible hacking, what would
constitute definitive proof that someone is actually Satoshi Nakamoto?

~~~
hendzen
Here is is PGP public key:
[http://bitcoin.org/satoshinakamoto.asc](http://bitcoin.org/satoshinakamoto.asc)

~~~
userbinator
Or maybe
[https://bitcoin.org/satoshinakamoto.asc](https://bitcoin.org/satoshinakamoto.asc)
would be preferable instead.

------
nfoz
No, _I 'm_ Spartacus

------
tonylampada
> I am not Dorian Nakamoto.

Is there any way Satoshi could prove this statement? Apart from revealing his
identity?

~~~
darkmighty
They could hold up Dorian and ask Satoshi to post something requiring his key,
although that couldn't discard the possibility of Dorian having instructed an
acquaintance to do so in case of emergency.

There's really no way to prove (a posteriori) without doubt that someone is or
isn't Satoshi, unless there was an encypted message left by him (a priori)
saying "My DNA is (...)", to which he provides the key.

~~~
GuiA
This is going to become a real life Death Note-style affair!

~~~
seiji
All we need is 33 bits. We can probably knock off 6-12 bits based on what we
know so far.

------
kenjackson
From the AP article [1] he has a response that seems really odd:

 _When shown the original bitcoin proposal that Newsweek linked to in its
story, Nakamoto said he didn 't write it, and said the email address in the
document wasn't his.

"Peer-to-peer can be anything," he said. "That's just a matter of address.
What the hell? It doesn't make sense to me."

Asked if he was technically able to come up with the idea for bitcoin,
Nakamoto responded: "Capability? Yes, but any programmer could do that."_

For someone who only recently heard about BitCoin this seems like an odd
response. It almost seems like if you made a factually incorrect technical
statement about BitCoin in his presence -- he might correct you.

~~~
Udo
Only he doesn't really know how it works. He apparently thinks it's just about
peer-to-peer networking, that's why the idea seems so trivial to him. In the
AP video he alludes to the fact that he "never communicated with Bitcoin",
further demonstrating that he believes it's about networking and not
cryptography. He really doesn't know.

I've said it before in the other threads but it bears repeating. What Newsweek
did was shameful and it looks to me that this guy is a very unlikely
candidate. He still has money problems in real life, as well as severe health
problems. Framing him as SN is irresponsible.

------
adventured
One thing is for certain, if Dorian is the real Satoshi, the Feds - NSA and
FBI - are all over him, and they will know for certain whether he is _the_
Satoshi (if they didn't know a long time ago). If Dorian = Satoshi, he's going
to be forced in front of the NSA, and interrogated about bitcoin, he will have
no choice in the matter (it won't matter if he's no longer involved, and it
won't matter if there are no weaknesses to give the Feds, they will still do
it).

~~~
schoen
NSA isn't a law enforcement agency.

If you get contacted (or arrested or detained) by a law enforcement agency,
you could ask to have a lawyer present before answering any questions. Your
lawyer can help you assert your fifth amendment rights against self-
incrimination.

I don't mean to deny that the Federal government might already know who the
creator of Bitcoin is. They may, and they may have quite strong evidence.
However, having "no choice in the matter" of whether to reveal one's identity
under interrogation is less clear. At least in the context of a law
enforcement investigation, the fifth amendment privilege is quite strong when
properly asserted, and the government's power to compel answers from a suspect
is correspondingly weak.

~~~
goldenkey
And the Patriot Act craps all over the 5th amendment unfortunately. A bitcoin
founder could be called a domestic terrorist for creation of a "terrorist"
money source.

~~~
schoen
Do you have an example of someone described as a domestic terrorist being
compelled to answer questions in an interrogation as a result of the Patriot
Act?

------
mattbarrie
NO, I AM NOT SATOSHI NAKIMOTO!

Seriously, how about we leave the guy who had a stroke and cancer but just
happens to have a similar name alone. It's obviously not him and this is
sloppy journalism.

------
elwell
[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=504715.msg5559860#ms...](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=504715.msg5559860#msg5559860)

------
6d0debc071
It would seem odd for someone who's otherwise been so careful about security
to use his or her real name. It would seem less odd for them to flick through
the phone book and choose someone else's name though (or pick it off a grave
stone, randomly mash forename and surname together - whatever.) Sharing the
name is weak evidence at best. With so many people, odds are if you pick
something vaguely okay someone in the world will have it too.

------
tymski
If Satoshi disappeared for as long as he did, would he really come back for
THIS? It seems like a waste of time and it's awfully risky. I don't believe
Dorian is Satoshi and I don't believe that the response from "Satoshi" is
Satoshi. Or perhaps Satoshi isn't as intelligent as he is made out to be and
this screw up will in turn screw him, just like the other internet recluses
that have fallen?

------
ww2
Why Dorian would say something below? Asked if he was technically able to come
up with the idea for bitcoin, Nakamoto responded: "Capability? Yes, but any
programmer could do that."

"Yes, but any programmer could do that." \---- Either this Dorian is ignorant
or it is his natural response. This quote is weird.

------
todd3834
Poor guy just wants to be left alone.

------
tomphoolery
I hope Dorian is Satoshi's actual brother and they're just fucking with the
whole media.

------
Cthulhu_
Satoshi/Dorian just wants to be left alone and distance himself from it all;
the press conference (if you can call it that) and this is all a big cry for
having people leave him alone.

He's probably already taking steps to change his identity and location.

------
Rylinks
HN dislikes ning.com; the new page is full of identical dead links to the
primary source.

------
calcsam
Ideally he would have posted this with Dorian on live TV...

~~~
drcode
Wouldn't prove anything.

~~~
est
post what you saw about the surroundings on live tv

~~~
ralmeida
Could still be made by an accomplice trained to this exact kind of situation.

------
Aqueous
That's exactly what Dorian Nakamoto would say.

------
elwell
I have a sinking feeling hn's scheduled kernel maintenance is going to make me
miss out on new developments of this movie.

~~~
re_todd
Maybe that means pg is Satoshi!

~~~
philwelch
Impossible; Bitcoin wasn't originally written in Lisp.

------
NAFV_P
I'm awaiting an harassment case from Mr Sakamoto against the press in the next
week or so. Either that or a name change.

------
bruceb
He had to connect with tor right? His brother said he would never admit to
being the creator of bitcoin.

------
terranstyler
Help Satoshi by claiming that you are not Satoshi and don't tell anyone you
read this here.

~~~
terranstyler
Alternatives: Post a pic with a pet, e.g., a dog saying "Such identity" or cat
saying "I'm Satoshi. I can has your Coinz now?".

------
pzaich
Who is Keyser Söze?

------
azcoder
I think the most compelling evidence that Dorian is Satoshi is described here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7354326](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7354326)
[EDIT: if an eyewitness account is compelling enough for you, this is
evidence. it is to me, apparently not to some.]

Dorian (as recognized by the retailer) bought a crepe from one of the first
retailers to accept bitcoins, the 1st transaction of the crepe retailer's
bitcoin address at 1KfQKmME7bQm5AesPiizWk6h3JPUekwoBC for 2.2 bitcoins on July
17 2011, can check the Crepe twitter feed: twitter.com/Ocrepes - "The award
for being the first customer who bought crepes for @bitcoins goes to ...
anonymous (the winner refused to reveal identity)"

Tracing those addresses/transactions back leads to large volume addresses.
[EDIT: 432,000 coins]

~~~
euank
Unfortunately, that proves nothing.

Early on, there were so few people mining that practically everyone had a
"large volume". As such, if you pick any arbitrary bitcoin transaction at that
time, it's highly likely it will have originated from a large volume source in
the recent past.

I think it's more likely a case of mistaken identity; there are many people in
this world, and I think that the chance of someone remembering someone from 3
years ago that they saw for half an hour, tops, with sufficient accuracy for a
positive ID is much lower than the chance that there are simply two middle
aged asian men who look vaguely similar. It's also improbable that "satoshi"
would fly across the country for this purchase. One person's word is certainly
not compelling to me.

Even if that account is 100% accurate, it does not link the man who paid with
bitcoins to satoshi, but merely to Dorian. The HN link relies on the flawed
NewsWeek article to make the further connection from Dorian to Satoshi.

~~~
azcoder
>Unfortunately, that proves nothing.

Linking Dorian to Bitcoin at any time proves everything, proves Dorian =
Satoshi. If Dorian paid for crepe in July 2011 with Bitcoin, Dorian is lying
and Dorian = Satoshi. There was a large Bitcoin Conference in New York at that
time, giving good reason to be there. The retailer said she recognized Dorian
as the customer. He didn't want his picture taken or name recorded. Good odds
to me it was him.

And "large volume" = 432,000 coins.

~~~
declan
Except there's no evidence linking Dorian to that July 2011 crepe. Is there?
Someone said "I dunno, he looks kinda familiar?" That's it?

~~~
azcoder
>Someone said "I dunno, he looks kinda familiar?" That's it?

That's not what she said. She said it was him. They had conversation and
interactions etc to form good memory.

~~~
declan
You say "good memory," but there's no evidence of it. The post said
"recognized him," though there's a bit of priming (A NEWSWEEK COVER STORY!) to
encourage that process along:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7354326](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7354326)

Memory is highly fallible. Eyewitness accounts are highly unreliable even
after a shorter period of time than three years. The burden of proof is
properly on the Dorian == Satoshi folks.

------
clouds
Meet Dorian Nakamoto. He is just a regular scientist who likes model trains.
But the world thinks he is creator of Bitcoin and mafia is chasing him for his
$400m fortunes.

What does he do? He cooks meth.

------
williamle8300
It's obvious: his son is Satoshi Nakamoto... c'mon people

