The mystery around Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, has fascinated the tech world for over a decade. Who is this shadowy figure, and what was the purpose of creating the world’s first decentralized cryptocurrency? Theories have come and gone for years, and this theory is the latest to hit the scene in a big way. Some speculate that former Twitter CEO and Square (now Block) founder Jack Dorsey could be Satoshi Nakamoto. While this theory remains largely unproven, it is in the eyes of many an interesting coincidence that builds a compelling case for its consideration.
The Theory Behind Jack Dorsey as Satoshi Nakamoto
The theory’s first instantiation was a post on X (formerly Twitter) from deBanked’s editor-in-chief Sean Murray, who postulated that Dorsey belongs in an odd overlap of background, interests, and time frame for a correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto. Murray says that there are simply too many parallels for comfort. Let us go through the details that make this theory very compelling.
Dorsey’s Early Fascination with Cryptography
Central to the theory is Dorsey’s much earlier interest in cryptography and alternative financial systems, which happen to be key tenets of what Bitcoin was all about. In the opinion of Murray, Dorsey was already involved in a world of encryption and cryptography during his college times. On one occasion, he was spotted in a T-shirt with the RSA logo on it, that famous encryption symbol, and saw himself as an avid follower of cryptographic newsletters.
Dorsey did not stop with that. He also made an endeavor to take a university course in encryption technologies, something which would later become a major area for the realization of Bitcoin. Another striking point is that in Dorsey’s autobiography in 2003, he describes his late-night hacking sessions and his work on cryptographic projects. Interestingly, the early timestamped documents for Bitcoin code show that the work was being done in hours that could correlate with Dorsey’s nighttime hours.
Most interesting of all, Dorsey expressed some suggestions in terms of financial independence, about wanting to break free of the reliance on standard currencies—exactly the orientation that might have fueled Bitcoin. He was proposing some barter network—where goods could simply be exchanged without using money, which interestingly is very much akin to what Bitcoin is working toward: decentralizing and democratizing the financial systems.
The Uncanny Coincidences
But it was not only this distinction from Dorsey’s cryptographic background that makes the coincidences far more interesting. Murray’s theory is also based on a series of strange coincidences that seem to directly tie Dorsey to Bitcoin’s inception. The first of these coincidences relates to Dorsey Twitter profile idiosyncrasies. Dorsey’s bio just read “sailor” between September 2007 and January 2009. That seems a curious detail, unless you consider a famous saying embedded in the original Bitcoin code: “Never go to sea with two chronometers—take one or three.” The reference to sailing is by no means a freak coincidence: it would have been a personally significant line to Dorsey.
The second issue relates to geography. On January 10, 2009, in an unfortunate slip, when Satoshi Nakamoto logged into an IRC chat, he let slip his location to be in California. Dorsey, coincidentally enough, was living in California at that time as well. But that set of coincidences does not end there yet. The first Bitcoin transaction happened on Dorsey’s mother birthday. Satoshi Nakamoto coincidentally signed into the Bitcoin forum on Dorsey’s birthday. And, perhaps strangest of them all, the day when Satoshi mined the last block was on Dorsey’s father birthday.
To puzzle it all even more, some of the addresses generated under the denomination of Satoshi Bitcoin cleverly link back to 2 Mint Plaza in San Francisco, Dorsey’s address. These patterns in the Bitcoin blockchain are exceedingly peculiar and remark on Dorsey’s life in a most personal way.
Satoshi’s Disappearance and Dorsey’s Rise
The timing of Satoshi Nakamoto’s disappearance fits this theory well. In December 2010, Satoshi posted his last public message on the Bitcoin forum, discouraging donations of cryptocurrency to Wikileaks. The day after the post, Twitter was subpoenaed for information concerning the non-profit. A few months later, Satoshi disappeared from public view altogether.
Meanwhile, in March 2011, just after Satoshi’s disappearance, Dorsey became Executive Chairman of Twitter while continuing to work on Square, which he co-founded in 2009. According to Murray, there is more than casual coincidence in the timing whereby Dorsey began to assert influence in both companies coincident with the last verifiable evidence of Satoshi. By the time Satoshi indicated to Bitcoin developer Martti Malmi that he was “genuinely busy with work,” Dorsey was a great deal embroiled in his new leadership roles, likely too busy to continue being involved in Bitcoin.
The Doubts and Counterarguments
Not everyone finds the theory convincing, of course. Skeptics charge that there is simply not enough solid evidence to tie Dorsey directly to Satoshi Nakamoto. For instance, BitMEX Research expressed doubts regarding Murray’s assertions related to Satoshi’s last mined block. They argue it can’t be figured out when Satoshi stopped mining since over time the underlying “Patoshi pattern,” which researchers used to describe Satoshi’s mining behavior, was degrading.
Furthermore, in 2014 the hack of Satoshi’s email account happened, and there was a threat from the attacker to reveal links to St. Louis, Dorsey’s hometown. But the hacker did not follow through to substantiate his threats, and there remains no physical evidence to connect Dorsey to Satoshi.
