The secret identity of who invented the notorious online currency Bitcoin may finally have been solved.
The creator of the cryptocurrency has always been known as Satoshi Nakamoto, but no one has ever revealed his true identity.
Now, media sources have revealed they believe that Nakamoto is really Australian computer scientist Dr Craig Wright.
The mystery deepened as at the same time the revelation appeared on the internet, Australian police and tax officers raided his home for ‘Bitcoin related’ tax offences.
It appears that Wright was trying to set up a Bitcoin bank, but his plans were undone when the Australian tax office decided trading virtual currency was not the same as trading money, so slapped an AUS$1.7 million tax on the transactions.
Online profiles disappeared
Wright rented a home in Sydney, which the landlord said he was soon to leave to move to London to study a master’s degree in computer sciences.
Little is known about the enigmatic character in public.
As soon as web sites Wired and Gizmodo started publishing details alleging Wright was one of the Bitcoin founders, his online profile started to disappear.
Information on Google, LinkedIn and other web sites was pulled and Wright himself has disappeared.
Employees and friends in Sydney called him ‘Mr Bitcoin’ and he suggested he had some involvement in creating the currency, but no one has quite enough information to prove the claims.
Wright, 44, is believed to be a computer security expert. Neighbours in Sydney say he is married with children.
The evidence linking him with the creation of Bitcoin seems to go back before the cryptocurrency appeared on the internet in 2009, and comes from a trail of documents and emails.
What is Bitcoin?
Some are with a business partner David Kleiman, who died in 2013 and is suspected of being the co-founder of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has gained notoriety because the encrypted transactions are difficult to track and the first adapters were organised crime gangs peddling weapons and drugs
The currency has also been afflicted with theft and fraud with millions of pounds of Bitcoin lost, stolen or missing in various raids and hacks on exchanges and users.
Bitcoin was developed as an international currency with a free-floating value. The Bitcoin world is unregulated and no government or central bank has authority to set the exchange rate.
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