Within just 9 years, every single person who is keen on investing knows what bitcoin is. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash which allows online payment to be sent from one person to another without going through a financial institution. The Bitcoin had a tremendous run this year and it made fortunes for millions of its users. Cryptocurrency expert claim that more than transaction worth $3 billion are traded every day in Bitcoin market. Bitcoin recorded a growth of more than 600% in 2017. As a result, this cryptocurrency’s largest holder, the one who founded Bitcoin is estimated to be sitting at whopping 40,000 crores.
Global financial institutions are raising a red flag with Bitcoin’s stupendous rise. Major financial crimes including ransomware attacks, economic funding to terror, gambling are suspected to carry out operations by using bitcoin. In the age of PR where creators and innovators look to amplify their success to gain money, why does the founder of bitcoin choose to be anonymous?
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| Ransomware attack payment screen demanding Bitcoins |
On 31st October 2008, a white paper named Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system was released by Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudo name so it can either be a person or a group. Satoshi was an active contributor to the development of bitcoin. He/They were active on the forum solving keys issues related to development and launching. He/They replied to emails and worked closely with other developers to improve the program. The system works on a technology which now we know as blockchain. The blockchain is advanced third-party ledger widely used by governments, financial systems, big data scientists etc.
Satoshi Nakamoto himself/themselves failed to explain the complex bitcoin concept to general audiences. There is nothing to relate it to. When Bitcoin was released into the wild in January of 2009, the decentralized network slowly started transforming the way society perceives money and the entire financial system in general. Bitcoin started with just a few adopters, like Hal Finney who received 10 BTC completing the very first bitcoin transaction. Now the protocol is used by millions of people from every corner of the world, giving individuals a better the bank, while also moving their funds without permission from so-called rulers (financial institutions).
Satoshi and one of the early bitcoin develop Martti Malmi (who I think is an introvert person) started a website bitcoin.org to promote the use of bitcoins in public. But suddenly, as bitcoin gathered steam in exchanges, Satoshi Nakamoto, the largest holder of BTC suddenly disappeared from public space. Cryptocurrency experts say Satoshi holds 5% of total Bitcoins available in the exchange. Bitcoin is a limited P2P currency, only 21 million BTC can be issued. Out of 21 million BTC, Satoshi holds on 9,80,000 Bitcoins.
Not a single Bitcoin investor in this world has seen who Satoshi is. Some even claim the person/group stays in US, not Japan. The reason why Satoshi left Bitcoin forum and his/their decision to remain anonymous is still unknown. There are two hypotheses – A good Satoshi hypothesis and a bad Satoshi hypothesis. Good Satoshi hypothesis suggests he/they have left to let Bitcoin to grow by itself by giving autonomy to developers. The other hypothesis suggests that Satoshi saw bitcoin taking off and wanted to maintain privacy to able sell off his/their assets when overvalued. But as hard as we may try, it's very possible that we never find out who Nakamoto really is. Anonymity is, after all, a core concept of Bitcoin.
- Chaitanya Kulkarni (Twitter - @chai2kul/@digicookies)
Source – bitcoin.com, bitcoin.org, CNBC.
Originally published on DigiCookies.com | Tech that transforms life.
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