Every so often, someone claims to be the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, who created bitcoin. This time a Pakistani living in the U.K. claims to have created the cryptocurrency in a trio of online posts. The alleged Pakistani bitcoin founder goes to great lengths to try to prove he is the cryptocurrency’s creator, but most are not convinced.
He states in part two of his three-piece blog that his birth name was Bilal Khalid and that he changed his legal name to James Caan. In part one, he explained why he supposedly came up with the name bitcoin, which came from the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. The Bank of England shut down BCCI in 1991 due to various scandals.
The alleged Pakistani bitcoin founder also explained in depth how his interest in Chaldean numerology supposedly informed his thought process in coming up with names. He equates a domain name he registered, theBCCI, with the number 23.
One reason crypto enthusiasts have been so keen to discover the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is because he is believed to own about $10 billion worth of bitcoin, based on current prices. Caan claims he lost the hard drive his bitcoins were stored on his computer malfunctioned.
Jeff Garzik, who once emailed back and forth with Nakamoto, told Bloomberg in an interview that he is skeptical of Caan’s claims. He said the writing style isn’t the same as the style he saw in the emails he exchanged with the real bitcoin founder. He is also doubtful that the real bitcoin founder has actually surfaced again.
Garzik noted that the first of the three posts from the alleged Pakistani bitcoin founder only included information that was publicly available. Caan said he published the other two parts of his blog due to the “overwhelming interest” he received in the first post.
Garzik said every few months, someone comes forward claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto. However, no one has offered any real proof that they are the bitcoin creator. If Satoshi still has the bitcoin he originally had when he created the cryptocurrency, he could use a digital signature only the original creator of it would know. The real Satoshi hasn’t been heard from since 2010.
