Apr 24, 2023 11:07 AM IST

Twelve years ago, on April 23, 2011, the world of cryptocurrency witnessed a cryptic milestone when Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive mastermind behind Bitcoin, penned one of the final correspondences to software developer Mike Hearn. The mysterious individual, who never revealed his real identity to the world, stated that he had "moved on to other things" and asserted that the project (Bitcoin) was in "good hands." Since then, Nakamoto's identity has been the subject of much speculation.

In December 2010, after the creation and initial implementation of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto vanished from the public eye. The last public message from this innovator was issued on December 12th, in which Nakamoto emphasized the need to work on denial-of-service (DoS) protection.

According to Bitcoin.com, on April 23rd, 2011, Hearn received an email from Nakamoto in which he maintained that they had "moved on to other things" and expressed confidence in the project being in "good hands with Gavin and everyone." Nakamoto also expressed hope for the continued development of Bitcoinj, Mike Hearn's Java version of Bitcoin, as it would provide Java developers with a project to work on. The email was titled, "Holding coins in an unspendable state for a rolling time window."

Bitcoin.com then unveils another email from Nakamoto, "I wish you wouldn't keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure," and urged Andresen to focus on the open-source project and give more credit to the dev contributors, as it would help motivate them.

In March 2014, a Newsweek article claimed that creator of Bitcoin was a 64-year-old Japanese-American named Dorian Nakamoto. As a response message allegedly authored by Satoshi Nakamoto appeared on the P2P Foundation's online forum, stating, "I am not Dorian Nakamoto."

Years later technologist Andy Baio, in his blogpost claimed, to have stumbled upon a copy of Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin white paper on his Mac computer which may have revealed his true identity. Since then several theories have been floating whether the man behind world's biggest cryptocurrency was none other than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Baio's discovery sparked fresh speculation that Nakamoto could have been Steve Jobs. "Was Steve Jobs actually Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of #bitcoin?" tweeted Lark Davis, a Bitcoin investor and blogger with 1.1 million followers. "Plus, Satoshi disappeared in December 2010, and then Jobs passed in October 2011. The timelines fit..."

There is no concrete evidence linking Jobs to the creation of Bitcoin, and the appearance of the Bitcoin white paper on Mac computers seven years after Jobs' death makes it difficult to draw a direct connection.

While the timelines of Nakamoto's disappearance and Jobs' passing do overlap, correlation does not necessarily imply causation. It's essential to consider that many individuals in the tech industry have been speculated to be Nakamoto, but none have been definitively confirmed. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto remains one of the most intriguing mysteries in the world of cryptocurrency.

The debate over Nakamoto's identity continues, with some users agreeing with the theory, while others remain skeptical. As the enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto deepens, fans are left to wonder whether the mastermind behind Bitcoin was truly the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs. Regardless of the outcome, the mystery surrounding Nakamoto adds an intriguing layer to the already captivating world of cryptocurrency.