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The man behind Bitcoin: Currency's creator revealed

March 6, 2014

What Bruce Wayne is to The Dark Knight, Dorian S. Nakamoto is to The Demigod Creator of Bitcoin. Except that Dorian S. Nakamoto didn't have to change his last name to keep his identity a secret for years.

This week, Newsweek stripped away the mystery from the man who invented the popular and controversial virtual currency. It turns out that Satoshi Nakamoto is none other than ...

Satoshi Nakamoto (aka, Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto — he added the extra names after graduating from California State Polytechnic University).

So much for the persistent rumor that Satoshi Nakamoto is simply a made-up amalgamation of Samsung, Toshiba, Nakamichi and Motorola.

Also, so much for the notion that the elusive Nakamoto is a supercool whiz-kid living the high life in Tokyo on the $400 million in bitcoins that he owns.

The Nakamoto pictured in the Newsweek article is a 64-year-old, allegedly irascible, somewhat nebbishy genius in highwater pants and in need of a haircut. He lives in the San Gabriel foothills of Los Angeles in a small, unassuming house.

At least he did. After being exposed by Newsweek, it would come as no surprise if, next week, this notoriously private and solitary creator of Bitcoin dropped entirely off the grid, ditching the Bitcoin pilgrimage on his doorstep.