By
Temitope Olatunji
April 26th, 2024
John McAfee, the infamous tech entrepreneur behind McAfee antivirus software, is claiming that the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto is alive but that he was not going to reveal his true identity – yet.
Last week we were reporting of how the computer programmer, successful businessman and recent presidential candidate John McAfee claimed that he knows the true identity of the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. He actually wrote:
“People, please – i do know who Satoshi is. Don’t make yourself look foolish by pretending.
Again people, don’t make yourselves look foolish by contacting me and claiming to be Satoshi. If you need to contact me to reveal yourself then you are not him.”
However, the saga doesn’t seem to be coming to its end very soon. Now he says he will not be unveiling the true identity of Bitcoin creator – at least not today.
The reason seems pretty usual: McAfee’s attorney believes that revealing Nakamoto’s true identity to the world could be too dangerous for his client due to an “imminent” extradition request to the United States.
The US extradition request to the Bahamas is imminent. I met with Mario Gray, my extradition lawyer, and it is now clear (read his letter below) that releasing the identity of Satoshi at this time could influence the trial and risk my extradition. I cannot risk that. I'll wait. pic.twitter.com/l8lTjR6fQM
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) April 23, 2019
In interview given to Bloomberg, McAfee confirmed that Nakamoto is a man living in the U.S. He said:
“I’ve spoken with him, and he is not a happy camper about my attempt to out him. People forget that I am a technologist. I am one of the best. Releasing the identity of Satoshi at this time could influence the trial and risk my extradition. I cannot risk that. I’ll wait.
My entire life I’ve been tracking people who are the best in the world, and hiding their identity. Finding Satoshi was a piece of cake for me.”
Will the Real Nakamoto Please Stand Up?
Satoshi Nakamoto wrote the paper about Bitcoin back in 2008 and the year after, he developed the, what is now known, the strongest cryptocurrency in the world. It is believed that he is one of the largest holders of bitcoin possessing around one million of them a.k.a. around $5.6 billion at current worth.
What the crypto community now sees as a problem is the fact that these coins haven’t been moved in 10 days so the question here is: Is Nakamoto dead or alive?
If he is alive, that could pull a twist into Bitcoin trading making pressure on the prices. For example, the government could pressure Satoshi to hand over the keys to all that wealth and in that way start to control this budding market with an iron fist, by threatening to crash the market or complete other devious acts.
However, what seems almost entirely sure is that we know who Satoshi isn’t. It most probably isn’t Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto or, how the crypto community call him – Faketoshi.
Together with his faithful wingman Calvin Ayre, he became more relevant when Bitcoin SV forked that chain in 2017 and they both became the de facto leaders of an even smaller fraction of Bitcoin believers.
Two weeks ago he started serving people with legal notices for harassing him with tweets or comments containing the hashtag – “CraigWrightIsAFraud.”
No matter the good laughs we all can have following this sitcom, hopefully, we won’t have to come to the outrageous end where the real Satoshi starts to sell all of his crypto empire.
If it’s to believe what McAfee has to say – that can not happen. Allegedly, the real Satoshi Nakamoto has “a zero influence” over the Bitcoin market.
Even though McAfee is pretty much well known for his publicity stunts in the crypto space such as his $1 million Bitcoin price prediction by 2020 or saying that “will eat [his] dick on national television,” it is true that through his US presidential campaign for the 2020 election, and his countless crypto tweets he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to his previous statements, the actual value of Bitcoin is based on the cost of its production (or mining), as well as on the total number of users and transactions on its network. McAfee has also stressed that Bitcoin was not a speculative investment but an instrument that powered a payment protocol working without banks.
Regarding McAfee’s statement that Satoshi is alive and has no influence over Bitcoin, the crypto community is right to ask McAfee how Satoshi can have zero influence when he has access to 1 million BTC?
“It’s a long story. You’re going to love it,” McAfee simply replied.