Jack Dorsey is Satoshi Nakamoto, Matthew Sigel of VanEck claims
On Feb. 18, 2025, Head of Digital Property Analysis at VanEck, Matthew Sigel, printed an extended submit on X, claiming that he’s satisfied Jack Dorsey is Satoshi Nakamoto. Sigel backed his declare with a physique of proof compiled by an entrepreneur, Sean Murray.
Disregarding the truth that many Bitcoin supporters attribute a part of its perfection to the full absence of the chief, the seek for enigmatic Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto continues.
Sigel factors out that the arguments he’s bringing want higher revision, and he urges everybody to take part. Here’s what he’s saying.
The proof linking Jack to Satoshi is a mixture of technical parallels, circumstantial hyperlinks, patterns (together with timing), uncanny coincidences, motive, and talent. Whereas not definitive, the breadth of those connections is compelling and worthy of additional scrutiny.
Murray, whose work is linked by Sigel, printed his findings in 2024. Nevertheless, the primary rumors of the opportunity of Jack being the Bitcoin inventor began to flow into even earlier. As an illustration, Dorsey denied he’s Satoshi Nakamoto through the Lex Fridman podcast again in 2020.
What made Sigel suppose Dorsey is Nakamoto?
It’s protected to say that the findings gathered by Sean Murray satisfied Sigel. In 12 months, Murray posted a number of articles on the deCashed web site. The articles lay out the details that allegedly show Dorsey is Nakamoto.
One of many earliest details in Dorsey’s life that traces him to being Satoshi is a 1996 image of him sporting an RSA Munition T-shirt designed by a outstanding cypherpunk, Adam Again, whose Hashcash expertise helped Satoshi to create Bitcoin. Adam Again was one of many first folks contacted by Nakamoto in 2008, initially mononymously as Satoshi.
Dorsey was an avid programmer. He knew the C coding language that was used to create Bitcoin. Murray outlines Dorsey’s early curiosity in distributed databases as, in 1998, Jack joined dispatch firm DNet. One of many mission’s occupations was facilitating on-line funds.
Within the early years of Twitter, Dorsey misplaced his CEO place as a result of he was dedicating an excessive amount of time to his hobbies. That was the time when Satoshi was engaged on Bitcoin.
One of many placing coincidences is that when the web site of Dorsey’s firm Sq. went stay, it branded two blue squares on the emblem. Two days later, Nakamoto provided blue squares when he was discussing the long run Bitcoin emblem.
In March of 2011, Dorsey grew to become Govt Chair of Twitter whereas persevering with his position as a Sq. CEO. In April, Nakamoto famously wrote his final public message, saying he “moved on to different issues,” including that Bitcoin is “in good arms with Gavin [Wood].” Quickly after a Twitter widget seems on the Bitcoin Sourceforge web page.
Ever since, Dorsey has been an lively Bitcoin advocate. Sq. was one of many first corporations to simply accept Bitcoin.
Murray mentions that in 2014, Satoshi Nakamoto’s e mail was hacked. The hack revealed Nakamoto was subscribed to PYMNTS.com, a media that by no means talked about Bitcoin till 2012 however has been reporting on Sq. and Dorsey. Not a giant deal, contemplating how standard Dorsey was on the time and the way few folks had been following Bitcoin in its early years. A extra attention-grabbing piece of information originating from this hack is a screenshot of a receipt despatched to a St. Louis recipient. St. Louis is the hometown of Dorsey, the place a few of his pals had been nonetheless dwelling at the moment.
In 2022 Dorsey arrange a Bitcoin Authorized Protection Fund that helped to combat Craig Wright’s bogus claims he was the Bitcoin creator.
General, early curiosity in cypherpunks, cryptography, and decentralization contributed to Murray’s speculation. Dorsey’s documented admiration of books by Neal Stephenson additionally makes him Satoshi candidate, as Nakamoto used the references to Stephenson’s novel Cryptonomicon in his Bitcoin deal with.
Greater than that, Dorsey indicated elevated curiosity in Japan and even visited the nation across the time when the Satoshi Nakamoto persona began to make the primary documented actions.
Weak spots
There are a lot of different “arguments” in Murray’s articles. A few of them are fairly convincing, whereas others look lunatic. At occasions it could appear Murray is looking for confirmations of his guess quite than for the reality. As an illustration, on a number of events, he resorts to decoding acronyms discovered within the hashes of Satoshi transactions or discovering indicators in Nakamoto’s actions made across the dates of Dorsey’s tweets.
Jack Dorsey’s residence in 2 Mint Plaza is discovered close to the U.S. Mint, references to that are allegedly encoded within the early Bitcoin transactions.
Murray goes as far as to make use of the graphic novel Hacktivist, made by Dorsey’s shut pal Alyssa Milano, as one other signal of the Satoshi-Dorsey connection. The novel follows a protagonist based mostly on Satoshi Nakamoto and Jack Dorsey on the similar time. The guide was authorised by Dorsey earlier than the publication. Why a fantasy plot would function proof is past comprehension.
Why was Sigel criticized for his claims?
To all of the Bitcoin followers who insist that deanonymizing Satoshi Nakamoto is dangerous to the way forward for Bitcoin, Sigel responds that the truth that Jack is Satoshi is sweet information for the market because it signifies that Satoshi’s $1.1 million holdings usually are not left to the mercy of destiny however are fairly secured and watched for.
Greater than that, Sigel stated CEOs draw some dangers to their corporations, however on the similar time, they will deal with a number of the issues of the neighborhood.
Nevertheless, a number of the responses had been fairly harsh. “Bitcoin has no CEO” is a crucial a part of the Bitcoin supporters’ philosophy. Nobody is in cost however the neighborhood itself. Nobody to press on and nobody to entice with cash or the opposite manner.
At present, many blast Vitalik Buterin, falsely claiming he’s a communist. Others criticize Ripple for continuously dumping XRP. Nothing like that is potential till Satoshi Nakamoto will not be current within the information subject. That’s why the makes an attempt to establish him usually are not met with enthusiasm. These makes an attempt will persist, although.
