The pseudonymous inventor(s) of bitcoin and blockchain technology, Satoshi Nakamoto, likely walks among us today.

Satoshi Nakamoto was the pen-name of the author(s) who anonymously gave the world the design and code for bitcoin and blockchain technology. Penning a white-paper entitled “Bitcoin: a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” the author(s) described the need for a decentralized digital currency and proposed blockchain technology as the way to validate digital transactions with a distributed ledger.

The paper was sent out to a cryptography-enthusiast email list in 2008. The design prevents double-spending of digital currencies, establishes the proof-of-work system for mining and validation, and even defines the maximum number of bitcoins which should ever be produced. The only speculation exists on the true identity of the person or people who penned the white-paper, but the author seems to have been a native English speaker well-versed in computer science and cryptography, with an affinity for peer-to-peer and open-source technology.

 After mining the first 50 bitcoins and sending 10 of them to Hal Finney, a programmer who was helping to test the system, Satoshi gradually disappeared from the scene and left the reigns in the hands of the community. Today, Satoshi is also used as a word to describe the smallest denomination of bitcoin and is used in other terms of endearment, such as Satoshi Cycle.