Elon Musk Thinks He Knows Who Satoshi Nakamoto Is

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious father of Bitcoin and, subsequently, all the other cryptocurrencies? Well, that’s one of the biggest mysteries of the 21st century, with several theories floating around. One of those is that Satoshi is an online persona created by computer scientist Nick Szabo.

Among those who believe in this version is no other than the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. The Tesla founder recently shared his opinion with the public, clarifying that no one can be 100% sure.

Why Musk Thinks Szabo Might Be the Creator of Bitcoin?

While on Lex Fridman’s podcast, Musk spoke about the theories that he’s behind the creation of Bitcoin, dismissing them as rumors. At the same time, he revealed his thoughts on who the father of Bitcoin might be.

Musk believes that the best way to find out the truth is to look at the past. By analyzing the ideas that led to the creation of Bitcoin, you could get to people like Nick Szabo. According to Musk, Szabo is the one who ticks most boxes of all the names in the game.

Musk also pointed out that, even if Szabo wasn’t behind the Satoshi Nakamoto online profile, it’s possible that his ideas inspired Bitcoin’s creator or creators.

Who Is Nick Szabo?

Nick Szabo is an American compute scientist, who in 1998, created a decentralized digital currency he named Bit Gold. Although his invention never got implemented, many think of it as a direct predecessor to Bitcoin.

In addition, Szabo also used to be involved with the development of smart contracts that eventually led to the creation of the Ethereum blockchain.

“Perhaps singular figures aren’t even as important as the figures involved in the evolution of ideas that led to things,”

Szabo said about the creation of Bitcoin.

Still, the #1 reason why people think of Szabo as the father of Bitcoin is that in 2008 – several years before the birth of Bitcoin – he wrote on his blog about his intention to create a decentralized currency.