
Ask HN: How has Satoshi Nakamoto been so good at opsec all this time? - CM30
I don&#x27;t understand it. Every other major figure online who people wanted to identify has slipped up at some time or another. Leakers like Edward Snowden? Got identified by the government. People running black market services like Dread Pirate Roberts and the guys behind AlphaBay? Identified by law enforcement. Hoaxers in the media world like JT LeRoy and the guy behind the blog &#x27;A Gay Girl in Damascus&#x27; got identified by the public or press.<p>Same goes for everything from famous authors with pen names and infamous internet personalities like violentacrez from Reddit.<p>So how has Satoshi Nakamoto avoided all this? Has he really never made a single mistake that could give away his identity? Is he some super expert at keeping his identity secret compared to the thousands of others who&#x27;ve tried and been exposed.<p>How has Satoshi avoided having his name and personal details revealed online?
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AdamSC1
One of the most fun theories I've heard came from a friend of mine. He
believes Satoshi hasn't been found because there isn't _a_ Satoshi, but rather
that it was a code name for a major research project.

Creating, designing and building the first version of Bitcoin is complicated
and spans a number of fields of expertise.

Most of these fields of expertise only have a few truly exceptional
practitioners who would be capable of the original thought.

You then have to factor in the peculiar nature of:

1) Not touching his new wealth of initial Bitcoins.

2) Disappearing into obscurity.

3) Being able to avoid being discovered (or nobody actually trying that hard
to find him).

Occam's Razor principle would suggest all of that is less likely to have some
altruistic single brilliant individual create Bitcoin and then leave. It's
more likely a team of individuals would create it under a pseudonym, dissolve
after completion of the project and then no longer have access to the
accounts/keys.

Large government agencies would have the ability to bring top minds together,
and less interest in liquidating the initial Satoshi Bitcoins.

Why would they want it? There are plenty of reasons governments would want a
public ledger system. Unlike some of Bitcoin's spin-offs, Bitcoin isn't
actually really private at all. It would be great for tracking and stopping
crime.

Of course this is all a theory that sounds like it's out of a spy novel, but I
think it's good fun.

The other likely possibilities is that Satoshi could have been older and
passed away, or he truly is some brilliant mind who is well hidden.

~~~
the_d00d
The problem that I see with your theory is that it would be very difficult for
so many people to keep this a secret.

~~~
CM30
Yeah, it falls into the problem conspiracy theories do. It's incredibly hard
to keep a secret when it goes beyond one or two people, especially when what's
being hidden is a major controversy or something a lot of people are
interested in reading about. If it was a government project, it'd only take
one leaker wanting some quick cash from the media to blow the whole thing.

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rurban
> Edward Snowden? Got identified by the government.

No, he chose to identify himself. The government had no idea.

> Private Manning?

Got snitched by a betrayer. This should not happen. He was very naive to trust
an anonymous figure head.

> Dread Pirate Roberts?

A php guy. Enough said.

> The truecrypt drug king from Rhodesia?

Good opsec, but lured to Africa. He was way too big.

Lots of good hackers have good opsec. Almost nobody got caught.

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Artlav
I suspect he is either long dead or in prison.

Another thing is, unlike people like Snowden he does not have much heat after
him. He is a mystery, but that's it - looking for him is pointless, since it's
not like he can do something governments want him to stop doing or have
something governments want to seize from him.

It would be like going after the parents of Osama Bin Laden - it's not like
they could have told him to stop terrorizing.

~~~
k__
Maybe they had an accident or something.

I mean good people die all the time, just like regular people...

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samwillis
He hasn't, law enforcement almost certainly know who he is. and there is
significant evidence it's Nick Szabo and/or Hal Finney.

Most people in the community believe it's probably one or both of them. Hal
Finney died in 2014. Also, it's better for Bitcoin if he is never found as the
bitcoin holdings of Satoshi is so large if they were to become active it would
crash the price of Bitcoin.

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rnhmjoj
I don't remember how The FBI initially identified The Dread Pirate Roberts but
they had to set up quite an operation to find conclusive proof and arrest him,
including undercover agents and months of surveillance. Probably nobody has
tried that hard to find Satoshi.

~~~
phaus
Somehow I don't think the guy that designed bitcoin is going to get caught
using an email address with his real name to post programming 101 questions on
stackoverflow.

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BjoernKW
Scott Adams of Dilbert fame once suggested this intriguing theory of Bitcoing
being the work of a benevolent post-singularity AI:
[http://blog.dilbert.com/post/103051092096/how-the-robots-
wil...](http://blog.dilbert.com/post/103051092096/how-the-robots-will-take-
over)

While perhaps not particularly likely I think he does have point. What better
way to slowly but steadily as well as clandestinely introduce beneficial
changes to human society than to create a decentralised currency in order to
influence financial markets and the flow of capital?

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mijndert
It's probable that no one looked as hard for Satoshi as for the other people
you mentioned because law enforcement isn't after him/her.

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bluesign
Because he disappeared before people looking for his identity. It is hard to
keep your identity when people are looking for you.

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notwhiteknight
Dead people have the best opsec.

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KanKuSSan
Nick Szabo is one of the members of the Satoshi Nakamoto team.

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grover_hartmann
Dave Kleiman was Satoshi Nakamoto.

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grover_hartmann
Hal Finney was Satoshi Nakamoto.

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vinchuco
Planning and prudence. Otherwise unknown to date.

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KanKuSSan
Nick Szabo is Satoshi Nakamoto.

~~~
D-Coder
I am Spartacus!

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azurelogic
OP is Satoshi. Case closed. ;)

