Craig Wright won’t provide proof that he created bitcoin, exits public world

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright will not provide evidence that he is bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, and appears to have left the public spotlight.

Earlier this week, Wright identified himself to the BBC, the Economist, and GQ as bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto.

Wright erased the contents of his website except for this final message:

Wright’s lack of public evidence resulted in a backlash from the bitcoin community. According to the BBC, Wright said he would transfer some bitcoin from block 9 using a key that only Nakamoto would know. Though he posted on Monday the description of a process that resulted in the creation of a digital signature, security researcher Dan Kaminsky pointed out the signature is available on the public blockchain.

“What he actually has is Satoshi’s signature on parts of the public Blockchain, which of course means he doesn’t need the private key and he doesn’t need to be Satoshi.”

Gavin Andresen, Bitcoin Foundation chief and core developer, has also turned back on his published blog post, which stated he believed Wright invented bitcoin. He explained in an interview with Wired the evidence that Wright brought directly to him, and how it varies greatly from the dubious evidence Wright has made public. The discrepancies were so obvious that some believed that Andresen’s blog was hacked. Andresen claims it wasn’t – which has led many to doubt his judgement.

Jon Matonis, founding director at the Bitcoin Foundation, still believes that Wright is Nakamoto. The BBC reported a tweet he sent earlier today which stated “there won’t be another Satoshi.”

For those who were skeptical about Wright’s claims, his decision to withhold evidence only supports their position. Of course, whether this message is indeed his last is yet to be seen. Nevertheless, bitcoin has moved along since its inception without the known identity of Nakamoto. While this debate might hurt bitcoin’s credibility right now, there’s no changing the fact that it’s a worldwide currency that’s not going to go away.

Image credit – Public domain image by Satoshi (Source)