After the cryptocurrency’s recent price rise, bitcoin’s founder is now the world’s 15th wealthiest person.
Nakamoto’s net worth is believed to be in the range of $73 billion, with crypto assets of 750,000 to 1.1 million bitcoins. This puts them ahead of Walmart heirs Jim and Rob Walton and Mexican businessman Carlos Slim.
Following a more than 300 percent surge in the last year, the price of bitcoin set a new all-time high around $68,000 earlier this month.
According to one renowned prediction model, it might increase to $100,000 by the end of the year, putting Nakamoto among the top ten richest people on the planet, with a net worth comparable to financier Warren Buffett.
In a white paper published in 2008, Nakamoto explained their concept for a peer-to-peer digital money before introducing bitcoin a few months later in January 2009. After nearly two years of working on the project with other developers, Nakamoto withdrew and hasn’t been seen online in over a decade.
Several bitcoin wallets thought to belong to Nakamoto have likewise remained unopened, with their contents increasing in value by more than tenfold since they were last used.
Although circumstantial evidence points to several possible options, the mystery surrounding Nakamoto’s true identity remains unsolved.
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Hal Finney, an early crypto pioneer, was the first individual to receive bitcoin through an online transaction, and there have been several attempts to link his online behavior to that of Nakamoto.
Until his death from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in August 2014, he denied being the cryptocurrency’s originator and refused to speculate on who it may be.
In March 2014, a high-profile Newsweek cover story claimed to have “unmasked” the bitcoin creator, Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, a Japanese-American computer scientist. Following its release, the article was widely refuted.
In the same year, financial expert Dominic Frisby named Nick Szabo as bitcoin’s originator, citing his writing style and the fact that he built a forerunner to bitcoin’s electronic money system. “Not Satoshi, but thank you,” Mr Szabo tweeted in response to the allegations.
Craig Wright, an Australian programmer, claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto in 2015, however the allegation was met with skepticism by key leaders in the crypto sector. Mr Wright reversed his claim and apologized on his website a few days after claiming to be the inventor of bitcoin.
He wrote, “I assumed I could put the years of anonymity and hiding behind me.” “However, as events unfolded this week and I prepared to publish the proof of access to the earliest keys, I broke.” I’m afraid I’m not brave enough. “I’m afraid I can’t.”
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