Statue honoring the anonymous inventor of Bitcoin in Hanoi, Vietnam.Image: keystone
Journalists from the New York Times believe they know who is behind the famous pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Apr 9, 2026, 6:17 p.mApr 9, 2026, 6:17 p.m
For 17 years, since the cryptocurrency Bitcoin saw the light of day in 2009, people have been puzzling over who invented the encrypted payment system. The search for the person behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto has been attracting journalists, tech experts and tens of thousands of online users around the world for years.
No wonder, then, that the circle of people believed to be Nakamoto already numbers around a hundred people. However, no one has yet succeeded in making an identification beyond all doubt.
Suspicious appearance in HBO documentary
One of the most recent and high-profile attempts to drag the billionaire inventor of Bitcoin out of anonymity was made two years ago by director Cullen Hoback on behalf of the streaming giant HBO. In the documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,” published in 2024, the Canadian software developer and cryptographer Peter Todd is named as a possible founder. However, the evidence is thin and relies more on circumstantial evidence and speculation rather than verifiable information.
However, a sequence in the documentary made New York Times journalist John Carreyrou sit up and take notice. Carreyrou, who like many others has been dealing with the topic for years, found the behavior of British cryptographer Adam Back during an interview to be extremely conspicuous. When he was confronted with the fact that he too was being considered as a possible inventor, he appeared nervous and tense. He asked the filmmakers not to publish the conversation. The excerpt was at the beginning of one recently published research by the New York Times, which most likely identifies the Brit as the inventor of Bitcoin.
According to research from the New York Times, the Briton Adam Back is said to be behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.Instagram
Crypto pioneer and companion of Satoshi
Adam Back is considered one of the leading minds in the global Bitcoin community. He was part of the cyberpunk movement, a group of anarchists who fought against increasing surveillance by authorities using data encryption in the early 1990s. In early emails from this time, the 55-year-old wrote about the idea of developing an encrypted payment system. As digital payment processing became more and more popular, Back and the Cyberpunks wanted to create a means of payment that would ensure the anonymity of cash, but in the digital space.
During the same period, the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto also appeared in the cyberpunk environment. While the Brit Back often commented on encrypted payment systems before the launch of Bitcoin, he disappeared from the scene at exactly the same time that Satoshi Nakamoto and Bitcoin became known to the general public.
Just at the moment when Back’s dream of anonymous digital payment seemed to come true, he began to remain silent. It was only in 2011, two years after the launch of Bitcoin, that the crypto expert spoke out on this topic for the first time. Once again the appearance of one meant the disappearance of the other. The pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto fell silent.
Font analyzes show various similarities
An extremely noticeable pattern of behavior, but far from proof. On the other hand, writing analyzes by Back and Nakamoto, which were carried out by journalists from the New York Times, are somewhat more tangible. They examined texts that the two published as a kind of newsletter during the cyberpunk era and found striking similarities.
Both made some of the same spelling errors and used identical wording. For example, they wrote the words “half way” or “down side” separately instead of together. The analysis also suggested that Nakamoto could be British based on his choice of words. Out of over 100 people who also wrote texts within this community, only Back’s writing behavior matched that of the later anonymous Bitcoin inventor.
“I am not Satoshi”
Adam Back has now spoken out on the X platform and writes: “I’m not Satoshi.” He was simply early in pointing out the positive social impact of cryptography, online privacy and electronic money. The rest is simply a “combination of coincidence and similar formulations from people with comparable experiences and interests,” Back writes on X.
i’m not satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash, hence my ~1992 onwards active interest in applied research on ecash, privacy tech on cypherpunks list which led to hashcash and other ideas.
— Adam Back (@adam3us) April 8, 2026
The final chapter of the Satoshi Nakamoto mystery probably hasn’t been written yet, even with this revelation. It seems logical that Back denies being the inventor of Bitcoin. The unmasking would mean that Back would suddenly be in the public eye as a multimillionaire. Estimates suggest that the still anonymous founder has digital assets of up to 1.1 million Bitcoins. As things stand today, this would be the equivalent of around 62 billion Swiss francs.