Nick Szabo is Not Satoshi
As part of a new series, our friends at CoinGeek analyze those folks (wrongfully, they say) associated with the creation of Bitcoin. One such individual is Nick Szabo. Presumably we will be revealing the real Satoshi Nakamoto here, perhaps the worst kept secret on the Gambling911.com website.
Who is Nick Szabo?
Kurt Wuckert Jr writes:
Szabo is a computer scientist, cypherpunk, cryptographer and an expert in C++ coding. He is also a legal scholar with a background in cryptocurrency theory. He was the creator of “Bit Gold,” a theoretical digital currency that Szabo proposed in the late 90’s and discussed frequently around the time of Bitcoin’s creation. Bit Gold shared some similarities with Bitcoin in that it used P2P networking to enable a financial network for transactions, but Szabo’s system lacked sybil resistance because it utilized a quorum of voting network addresses to come to consensus—something that Nakamoto ultimately clarified and superseded in bitcoin by way of honest nodes building blocks that contain a sufficient proof of work.
Wuckert Jr observes that Szabo is often associated with the Bitcoin White Paper as a result of his peculiar style of commenting on code.
Wuchert jr. also points out internet rumors regarding the bronze statue of the hoodie-wearing Satoshi erected in Budapest. Some insiders actually know that Szabo is a Hungarian-American apparently.
Szabo is even often credited with the creation of "smart contracts" and Wuckert, Jr. admits he appears to have coined that phrase.
Nick Szabo is an interesting person, thoughtful philosopher, and a master software programmer, but that does not make him Satoshi Nakamoto, Wuckert, Jr. writes.
In defusing the notion that Szabo could be Satoshi, Wuckert Jr. alludes to a series of tweets where Szabo "shows his ignorance of Ethereum and bitcoin-based systems by misunderstanding the now well-understood scaling problems of Ethereum compared to bitcoin."
He adds that Szabo "seems to be completely ignorant to the fact that Bitcoin was implemented with a complex smart contract-capable stack."
There are still believers, nonetheless.
Szabo speaks to sold out crowds around the world because maybe he is Satoshi Nakamoto and he can simply bend the knee to the mainstream views of BTC.
But even Szabo has dismissed the notion that he is Satoshi.
In a July 2014 email to financial author Dominic Frisby, Szabo said "I'm afraid you got it wrong doxing me as Satoshi, but I'm used to it" (Frisby, Dominic (2014) "Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?" In Bitcoin: The Future of Money?, p. 85-149. Unbound. ISBN 1783520779, Frisby, Dominic (2014), p. 147)
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
