The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. Published the whitepaper in 2008, launched the network in 2009, and disappeared in 2011 — leaving behind a system that no one controls and everyone can use.
From whitepaper to disappearance — three years that changed everything
The domain bitcoin.org was registered through anonymousspeech.com, a service that allows users to register domains anonymously.
Satoshi published "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" to the cryptography mailing list. Nine pages that proposed a solution to the double-spending problem without a trusted third party.
Block 0 was mined, containing the now-famous message embedded in the coinbase transaction: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."
The first Bitcoin software was released on SourceForge. It ran only on Windows. Satoshi had been developing and testing it in isolation for roughly two years before this public release.
Satoshi sent 10 bitcoin to Hal Finney in block 170 — the first person-to-person bitcoin transaction ever. Finney had tweeted "Running bitcoin" two days earlier.
Satoshi actively developed the software, responded to feedback on the BitcoinTalk forum, wrote detailed explanations, and fixed bugs. He was pragmatic, patient, and precise.
Satoshi's final public post on BitcoinTalk discussed DoS attack prevention. After this, he communicated only by private email with a handful of developers.
Satoshi sent a final email to developer Mike Hearn: "I've moved on to other things. It's in good hands with Gavin and everyone." Then silence. Forever.
Keep Learning
This page presents publicly available information about Satoshi Nakamoto for educational purposes. Sources include the Bitcoin whitepaper, BitcoinTalk forum archives, and the cryptography mailing list.