Who Is Dorian Nakamoto? The Engineer Named as Satoshi

Dorian Nakamoto is the engineer Newsweek named as bitcoin's creator on 6 March 2014, a claim he denied to the AP the same day. Within hours, "I am not Dorian Nakamoto" appeared under the forum account registered as Satoshi Nakamoto. The account had been silent for five years, and its record can't show who typed the line.

By September 2014 the account's archived profile counted five posts, three from February 2009 and two from 2014. The fifth came six months after the denial and addressed Satoshi by name. In July 2024 the forum's administrator said the email address on the account had been changed.

Dorian Nakamoto at a Glance

Who Is Dorian Nakamoto?

"My name is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto" is the first line of the written statement Dorian Nakamoto dated 17 March 2014. He told the AP that his given name at birth was Satoshi, the name on bitcoin's founding paper.

Dorian Nakamoto has no website of his own named in Newsweek's story, the AP interview or his written statement. Those three 2014 documents are where the record of his words on bitcoin starts.

Bitcoin itself arrived as a 2008 paper and a 2009 software release, both under the Satoshi Nakamoto name. Phemex Academy's beginner's guide to Bitcoin covers how that network runs if you're new to it.

Why Did Newsweek Say He Was Satoshi?

Leah McGrath Goodman wrote the Dorian Nakamoto Newsweek story, "The Face Behind Bitcoin", which went online on 6 March 2014. Her case rested on his birth name and an engineering career that, by Newsweek's account, included classified work for corporations and the US military.

The sharpest piece was a short exchange in person. Asked about bitcoin, he said "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," and added "It's been turned over to other people" before refusing to say more. In Newsweek's telling he was "tacitly acknowledging his role in the Bitcoin project" as he spoke.

The name carried weight because Satoshi Nakamoto is the only author on the 2008 Bitcoin whitepaper, which our guide to Satoshi's 2008 paper explains. Newsweek itself noted that there were several Satoshi Nakamotos in North America and beyond.

What Did Dorian Nakamoto Say?

He said no on the day the story ran. In a two-hour AP interview, which The Spokesman-Review printed on 7 March 2014, he said "I got nothing to do with it" again and again.

He told the AP that his words to Newsweek's reporter meant "I'm no longer in engineering" and nothing more. He said that part of Newsweek's story was misunderstood. "It sounded like I was involved before with Bitcoin," he went on, adding "That's not what I meant. I want to clarify that."

His written statement reads "I did not create, invent or otherwise work on Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report" in its opening lines, and Newsweek appended it to the story after receiving it on 19 March 2014.

The same statement explained a word from the AP interview, where he had called the technology "bitcom" because he was "still unfamiliar with the term" at the time. It closed with "This will be our last public statement on this matter" and a request for privacy.

Is Dorian Nakamoto Satoshi Nakamoto?

The 2014 record doesn't settle it, because it holds Newsweek's reporting on one side and his denials on the other.

Newsweek's editors answered the criticism on 7 March 2014 in a statement on the story, writing that the magazine "stands strongly behind" Goodman and her article. "The facts as reported point toward Mr. Nakamoto's role in the founding of Bitcoin," the statement added. Goodman told the AP, "I stand completely by my exchange with Mr. Nakamoto."

Against that stand his denial to the AP, his written statement and the post from the account registered as Satoshi Nakamoto. None of these documents gives you a test to run, so the question stays open on the record.

What Did the "I Am Not Dorian Nakamoto" Post Show?

The forum account in Satoshi Nakamoto's name posted "I am not Dorian Nakamoto." on 7 March 2014, its first post in 1,842 days.

That account had opened the thread "Bitcoin open source implementation of P2P currency" on 11 February 2009 to announce Bitcoin v0.1. The post came weeks after the first bitcoin payment reached Hal Finney, the PGP developer. Its replies of 15 and 18 February 2009 were its last for five years.

The denial landed 14 hours and 12 minutes after Newsweek's story went online. CBS News reported that day that it appeared to be the account's first post since 2009. The profile's own counter agrees. It read three in copies from May 2011 and December 2013. A copy saved 34 minutes after the denial read four.

In September 2014 the same account posted a message that opened with "Dear Satoshi" and said its owner's passwords were for sale. That made five posts on the account's archived profile. In December 2021 it posted again, this time with a link to what it called an "NFT of this post".

The thread no longer loads on the P2P Foundation site, and the Internet Archive keeps its copy of the 7 March post.

In a July 2024 reply on the same thread the forum's administrator wrote that "The email address associated with the Satoshi Nakamoto account has been changed". The same reply said the account or the forum's platform appeared to have been compromised in 2014, and that the administrator had removed posts advertising the whitepaper's sale as an NFT.

By its reading, posts made after that point "do not seem to be from the original Satoshi Nakamoto," and it gave no month for the break. So the login that denied being Dorian Nakamoto proves someone could sign in, and it can't tell you who that someone was.

What Was Dorian Nakamoto's Career?

Dorian Nakamoto's statement says "My background is in engineering," and it adds that he could also program. His most recent job by March 2014, in his words, was "as an electrical engineer troubleshooting air traffic control equipment for the FAA."

He confirmed to the AP that he once worked for a defense contractor, one of the many details in Newsweek's report he called correct. Newsweek reported a physics degree and early work on defense electronics and communications at Hughes Aircraft.

His statement also says he never worked on "cryptography, peer to peer systems, or alternative currencies."

Why Does the Satoshi Question Matter for Bitcoin?

The Dorian Nakamoto bitcoin episode shows the gap between a name and a key. The February 2009 post that opened the forum thread put the rule plainly. "A digital coin contains the public key of its owner," it says, and "Anyone can check the signatures to verify the chain of ownership."

A forum login gives you no such proof, which is why the 2014 denial couldn't close the case for either side. Coins that sit unmoved for years feed the market's argument over the paradox of lost bitcoins. That blog notes that most reports count wallets inactive for more than five years as lost.

Bitcoin's late-October close was 81,306.3 USDT on Phemex's BTCUSDT perpetual, a contract live since November 2022 with up to 150x leverage and funding every eight hours. Futures use leverage, and a leveraged position is closed automatically if losses reach its margin.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Dorian Nakamoto?

Dorian Nakamoto is an engineer whose given name at birth was Satoshi. Newsweek named him as bitcoin's creator in March 2014, and he denied it to the AP the same day and again in a written statement dated 17 March 2014.

Is Dorian Nakamoto Satoshi Nakamoto?

The record doesn't settle it. Newsweek stood by its March 2014 story, and he denied it on the record. A forum account in Satoshi Nakamoto's name also posted a denial, but a login can't prove who wrote it.

What did Dorian Nakamoto say about bitcoin?

In March 2014 he told the AP "I got nothing to do with it" more than once. His written statement denied that he created, invented or worked on Bitcoin, and it said he had called the technology "bitcom" because the term was new to him.

Who posted "I am not Dorian Nakamoto"?

The account registered as Satoshi Nakamoto on the P2P Foundation forum posted it in March 2014. The same account later carried a message addressed to "Dear Satoshi," and the forum's administrator said in 2024 that its email address had been changed.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.