In the aftermath of Mt.Gox’s bankruptcy in Japan, Newsweek throw another bomb.
Early in the morning of March 6, Newsweek magazine posted an exclusive article titled “The Face Behind Bitcoin”. The reporter Leah McGrath Goodman claimed in the article that they found the mysterious founder of Bitcoin living in Temple City, California.
According to this article, a 64-year-old Japanese-American man whose name really is Satoshi Nakamoto is the founder. He hobby is collecting model trains,and he has done classified work for major corporations and the U.S. military.For the past 40 years, Satoshi Nakamoto has not used his birth name in his daily life. At the age of 23, after graduating from California State Polytechnic University, he changed his name to “Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto,” according to records filed with the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles in 1973. Since then, he has not used the name Satoshi but instead signs his name “Dorian S. Nakamoto.”
Bitcoinfans and press were thrown into confusion at this. Trying to have interview with Nakamoto, a car chase began.
“We are chasing Satoshi Nakamoto,” wrote Buzzfeed reporter Hunter Schwarz in an article published Wednesday afternoon.
The Media Is Chasing Satoshi Nakamoto Around The Los Angeles Suburbs http://t.co/UiYSz0hUns
— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) 2014, March 6
And this news about car chase has spread through twitter and facebook.
INSANE! // This reporter is live tweeting the car chase of Satoshi Nakamoto by a pack of rabid journalists. #bitcoin https://t.co/2ySgdHfmba
— Andy Denton (@AndyDenton) 2014, March 6
There’s a #bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto car chase going on right now? via @businessinsider http://t.co/8KcghoEXCw
— Elise Hu (@elisewho) 2014, March 6
In chase for alleged Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, Journalists wait outside LA @AP office. Photo by @AlSchaben pic.twitter.com/Q3SnuzvaN5
— LA Times Photography (@latimesphotos) 2014, March 6
In this “manhunt”, AP seems to have stood out from the others.
The AP will still not answer questions about whether or not they fed Nakamoto his promised lunch.
— Hunter Schwarz (@hunterschwarz) 2014, March 7
In the afternoon of March 7, AP posted the article “Man said to create bitcoin denies it” AP succeeded in interviewing Nakamoto.
Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto told the reporter that he is not the creator of bitcoin.”I got nothing to do with it,” he said, repeatedly.
“I’m saying I’m no longer in engineering. That’s it,” he told AP. “And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that’s what I implied.”
And he continued.
“It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I’m not involved now. That’s not what I meant. I want to clarify that.”
Then on a long-dormant PeerToPeer Foundation site believed to belong to the Satoshi Nakamoto who created Bitcoin suddenly appeared a post denying he was Dorian.
Thanks for this story Hiromi. I would be curious to hear more about the Japanese perspective on the story as well as the Mt Gox bankruptcy that you mention at the beginning of the article. You may want to check out Storify – https://storify.com/ – for an easy way to tell stories with media from around the Internet.
Oops – my bad! You did use storify! For some reason the embeds were showing up strangely for me but they look better now that I reloaded.