The president and editor-in-chief of the financial news website deBanked, Seán Murray, has put forward a series of pieces of evidence attempting to prove that Twitter (now X) and Square (now Block) founder Jack Dorsey may be the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. However, some of his arguments have been met with skepticism from the crypto community.
**Table of Contents**
– Birthdays, Timestamps, and Bruteforced Addresses
– Claims of Satoshi Disclosing His Location
– The Disappearance of Satoshi and Its Connection to WikiLeaks Investigations
– Criticism from the Community
**Birthdays, Timestamps, and Bruteforced Addresses**
Jack Dorsey denied being Satoshi Nakamoto during an interview with computer scientist and podcast host Lex Fridman in April 2020, stating, “No. If I were, would I tell you?” However, Murray believes Dorsey “could” be Satoshi and points out that Dorsey demonstrated a tendency towards cypherpunk ideals as early as 1996 while studying computer science at university, such as wearing an RSA T-shirt of Hashcash inventor Adam Back and later writing a manifesto in 2001 mentioning the desire to leave a mark on the world without a trace. One of the most notable observations is that the first recorded Bitcoin transaction allegedly occurred on Dorsey’s mother’s birthday (January 11), while the last Bitcoin block mined by Satoshi occurred on Dorsey’s father’s birthday (March 5, 2010). However, BitMEX Research has questioned this, noting that as the Patoshi pattern has gradually diminished over time, it is difficult to ascertain when Satoshi mined blocks. Murray also claims that Satoshi registered on a Bitcoin forum on Dorsey’s birthday (November 19) and points out that the timestamps of the original Bitcoin source code files all show as 4 AM (although the time zone is unclear), a time that reportedly appeared in Dorsey’s Twitter profile. Furthermore, Murray believes Satoshi used “bruteforcing” to create Bitcoin addresses, one of which starts with “jD2m,” which he claims stands for “Jack Dorsey 2 Mint,” referring to Dorsey’s former residence at 2 Mint Plaza in San Francisco.
**Claims of Satoshi Disclosing His Location**
Murray also noted that Satoshi’s “GMX” email was hacked on September 8, 2014, with the hacker attempting to extort Satoshi by revealing his connection to St. Louis, Missouri, where Dorsey is from. Additionally, Murray claims Satoshi “accidentally” logged into Internet Relay Chat on January 10, 2009, revealing a real IP address located in California, which coincides with Twitter’s headquarters and the place where Dorsey lived for an extended period.
**The Disappearance of Satoshi and Its Connection to WikiLeaks Investigations**
On December 5, 2010, Satoshi posted on the Bitcoin forum urging people not to donate Bitcoin to WikiLeaks. Murray points out that Twitter received a “secret court order” nine days later (December 14) requiring it to hand over all information related to WikiLeaks. At that time, Dorsey was not the CEO of Twitter but was still on the board. Murray also claims that the last time Satoshi logged into the Bitcoin forum was December 13, 2010, just one day before Twitter was ordered by the court to hand over the WikiLeaks messages.
**Criticism from the Community**
Since February of last year, Murray has been compiling evidence regarding Dorsey being Satoshi and has published it on his website, while Dorsey has yet to respond to his claims. Like other theories regarding Satoshi’s identity, Murray’s assertions have faced scrutiny from many. Some X users have pointed out that it is hard to believe that Satoshi, as the creator of an anti-censorship currency, would later choose to engage in message censorship, as Dorsey’s Twitter did following government intervention in the U.S. There are also doubts about whether Satoshi would wear clothing emblazoned with the word “Satoshi” in public, especially at large events like the Super Bowl (which Dorsey did in 2024). Last October, the HBO documentary “Money Electric: The Mystery of Bitcoin” identified Canadian software developer Peter Todd as Satoshi, but Todd has denied this. Other frequently speculated candidates include tech expert Nick Szabo, the late cryptographer Hal Finney, and Blockstream founder Adam Back, all of whom have denied being Satoshi.