6 causes Jack Dorsey is certainly Satoshi… and 5 causes he’s not

Over time, we’ve explored some intriguing theories about who (or what) created Bitcoin, starting from the highest authorities spy company in America to a time-traveling AI and even the lizard folks. 

Nonetheless, some are adamant that the creator of Bitcoin is far more human and has been underneath our noses this complete time, sporting a guru beard, sandals, and sporting a T-shirt with Satoshi written on it in giant letters: the billionaire Twitter and Block founder Jack Dorsey. 

“I consider that Jack has been outwardly signaling that he’s Satoshi for greater than a decade,” deBanked chief editor Sean Murray tells Journal. 

“I don’t suppose his actions over the previous decade are of somebody saying ‘don’t discover me’ however reasonably somebody constructing on to the lore of the way it’s him, why it’s him, that every blatant however oblique admission is a part of the artwork, the model of poetic terrorism that he subscribes to.”

So what makes some clever and revered folks — together with VanEck’s head of digital belongings analysis Matthew Sigel — so assured that Dorsey is the creator of Bitcoin? 

1. Jack Dorsey was one of many authentic cypherpunks within the Nineties and wished to finish dependence on the greenback

Like every good homicide thriller, a killer requires a motive. Dorsey has this in spades. 

Dorsey was one of many authentic 1,300 members of the famed Cypherpunk mailing listing — a foundational on-line group based in 1992 that prized privateness and digital freedom and laid the groundwork for Bitcoin as cash outdoors the management of the state. He joined the listing in 1996 whereas a pupil on the College of Missouri–Rolla at round 20 years of age. 

Dorsey even created an internet site that promoted the cyberpunks’ mission utilizing his college area. It’s protected to say he was a large fan of the motion and accustomed to Adam Again and Hal Finney and DigiCash lengthy earlier than they grew to become well-known.

Enjoyable truth: In 2003, Dorsey reportedly blogged, “I additionally want to finish my dependence on the American Greenback ($) and in that vein am organising a bartering community.”

2. Dorsey’s ventures are about Bitcoin and decentralization

Dorsey’s alignment with the cypherpunk motion persists to right now. In 2009, he based the now crypto-forward funds firm, Sq. (now generally known as Block), which has simply rolled out Bitcoin funds to over 4 million retailers. 

In 2019, after his second return as CEO of Twitter, he created Bluesky, a decentralized Twitter various that embodies a few of Bitcoin’s decentralized beliefs. It didn’t stay as much as his beliefs of decentralization so he targeted his efforts on supporting Nostr as an alternative.  

Then, earlier this yr, Dorsey launched Bitchat. This decentralized communications platform permits folks to contact one another with out the necessity for the web, which has confirmed significantly beneficial amid authorities protests and pure disasters, very similar to Bitcoin has prior to now. 

His charity, Begin Small, donated a whopping $21 million to OpenSats, a nonprofit that helps the builders of Bitcoin Core and different tasks associated to Bitcoin. 

Regardless of which method you slice it, Dorsey is a cypherpunk OG who has the motivation, and as we are going to see, the know-how to create and help the expansion of Bitcoin.

3. See? Plus, plus: Jack Dorsey had the know-how to code Bitcoin

So, if Dorsey wished to create Bitcoin, did he have the abilities to code it?

The reply to that is additionally a convincing in all probability. Dorsey was obsessive about computer systems since his father introduced dwelling an IBM PC Junior, when he was round 8 years outdated. They later received a Macintosh, and by the age of 11, he had taught himself to code. 

“I used to be enthralled by each of them, primarily the flexibility to only change what they do. So I discovered the best way to program in BASIC, and I performed with HyperCard, and little by little I received higher and higher at newer programming languages like C,” mentioned Dorsey in a Harvard Enterprise College podcast in 2014. 

By across the age of 15, Dorsey was already writing dispatch software program for taxi cabs, couriers and emergency providers that may later be used for many years. 

When deBanked’s Murray Dorsey uncovered Dorsey’s early cypherpunk web site from the late 90s, it confirmed Dorsey already knew coding languages together with C, Python, Java, Perl, PHP, OCaml, JoCaml, Lisp, ObjC and extra. And sure, it did present he knew the best way to code in C++, the language the unique Bitcoin shopper was written in.

So, it’s not a large leap to suppose that Dorsey would have had an excellent firmer grasp of programming by the point he was 32, which was how outdated he was when the Bitcoin white paper was launched. 

4. Dorsey was targeted on different issues outdoors his day job within the lead as much as the BTC white paper

The speculation turns into much more intriguing when you understand that Dorsey, who based and ran Twitter from 2006 to 2008, occurred to have some downtime simply weeks earlier than the Bitcoin white paper was launched — downtime probably associated to spending an excessive amount of time away from his day job. 

Writing Bitcoin wouldn’t have been a straightforward process. Nakamoto as soon as informed early Bitcoin person and developer Mike Hearn in 2010 that it took him two years of growth earlier than releasing the Bitcoin paper and code, “and I might solely spend a lot time on every of the various points.” 

This may have been exactly the timeframe that Dorsey was working because the CEO of Twitter earlier than he was fired in October 2008. 

Why did he get fired? Many studies pin it to Dorsey’s failure to deal with the platform’s frequent service disruptions and perceived management points. 

Nonetheless, some recommend that a part of the reason being that he would depart the workplace early to “de-stress and attend night time programs in vogue and drawing.” 

Satoshi Nakamoto would go on to share the Bitcoin white paper for the primary time on Oct. 31, 2008, with the message: 

“I’ve been engaged on a brand new digital money system that’s absolutely peer-to-peer, with no trusted third get together.” 

Bitcoin formally launched just a few months in a while Jan. 3, 2009. 

5. The coincidences

Then, there are the various “coincidences” aligning particular dates in Bitcoin with features of Dorsey’s private life. Believers are satisfied these Easter eggs had been made to subtly level towards Dorsey. 

Listed below are some key ones, with credit score to Murray and Sigel; nonetheless, there are numerous extra that we didn’t cowl, which might be discovered right here. 

Oct. 31, 2008: Bitcoin white paper comes out / Oct. 31, 2008: Neal Stephenson, creator of “Snow Crash,” birthday. Dorsey is a fan of the ebook.

Jan. 9, 2009: Dorsey attends an award present in San Francisco / Jan. 10, 2009: Nakamoto by accident logged into IRC from an IP handle in California

Jan. 11, 2009: Nakamoto’s first recorded transaction / Jan. 11, 2009: Dorsey’s mom’s birthday

Nov. 19, 2009: Nakamoto registers for the Bitcoin discussion board as “satoshi” / Nov. 19, 2009: Dorsey’s birthday / Nov. 19, 2015: Sq. (now Block)’s IPO / Block Traders Day, Nov.19 2025.

Might 3, 2010: Nakamoto’s final mined Bitcoin / Might 3, 2010: Dorsey’s father’s birthday.

Then there’s the coincidence that his good buddy Alyssa Milano wrote a graphic novel known as Hacktivist a couple of billionaire character primarily based on Dorsey who runs a social media firm however is a secret hacker who develops a decentralized encrypted peer to look community. Hmmm.

6. Jack Dorsey bankrolled the case in opposition to Faketoshi

One other circumstantial piece of proof is what Jack Dorsey did when he noticed a person parading around the globe claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto. 

For years, Australian pc scientist Dr. Craig Wright claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin. He finally misplaced the battle final yr and was pressured to confess he was not.

However earlier than that, his lawyer, Anthony Grabiner, had argued that it was “hanging” that nobody else had publicly claimed to be the creator of Bitcoin. 

“If Dr Wright weren’t Satoshi, the true Satoshi would have been anticipated to return ahead to counter the declare,” mentioned Grabiner. 

Jack Dorsey answered the decision.

In Might 2020, 145 historic Bitcoin addresses signed a message stating that Craig Wright was not Satoshi and a liar and a fraud. The oldest Bitcoin handle that signed the message began with 1jak — Jack’s outdated pseudonym.

By Block, Dorsey co-founded and bankrolled the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), which sued Wright in 2021 to legally declare he’s not the creator of Bitcoin.

Dorsey started sporting the Satoshi T-shirt in February 2022, within the midst of the saga.

The case concluded with a Excessive Court docket ruling in March 2024 of their favor. Dorsey merely and humbly labeled it a “W” after the decision was introduced. 

5 good the reason why Jack Dorsey isn’t Satoshi Nakamoto

Whereas not one of the proof above might be thought-about bulletproof, supporters of the speculation say there’s greater than sufficient circumstantial proof to significantly level towards Dorsey. Not everybody agrees, although. 

Figuring out the best way to code and being a member of the Cypherpunk mailing listing might be simply the naked minimal to be a Nakamoto candidate. Julian Assange was additionally on the listing, together with Adam Again and Wei Dai, for instance.

Critics of the speculation argue that there’s no single piece of proof that concretely hyperlinks Dorsey to Nakamoto.

Jameson Lopp, the co-founder of crypto safety firm Casa, is one among these folks, calling the speculation a “half baked narrative.”

“It’s true that Jack was a cypherpunk and a programmer, however that’s the strongest ‘proof’ obtainable to help this concept. All the things else is circumstantial if not outright psychological gymnastics by way of numerology,” says Lopp. 

1. Dorsey would have needed to juggle Bitcoin, Sq. and Twitter

“I believe Jack is by far one of many least believable theories as a result of there’s a lot proof that he was too busy doing different issues (touring, constructing, and selling Twitter) to be deep within the weeds on a venture as novel as Bitcoin,” Lopp tells Journal. 

Widespread sense says that Dorsey wouldn’t have had the time to work to develop Bitcoin, argues Lopp. Whereas Dorsey was certainly fired as Twitter’s CEO in 2008, simply earlier than Nakamoto launched the Bitcoin white paper, Dorsey remained chairman of the board.

Then a yr later, Dorsey based Sq., an organization that enables anybody to simply accept bank card funds on a cell system. It might be fairly difficult for Dorsey to have assembled a model new firm whereas steering the Bitcoin ship.

2014: “We discovered Satoshi. Seems he was hiding in plain sight and was listed within the cellphone ebook.”

2025: “We discovered Satoshi. Seems he was hiding in plain sight and showing on nationwide tv sporting a Satoshi shirt.” pic.twitter.com/Vs7suPUCZI

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) February 18, 2025

“It’s fairly clear that he was a particularly busy particular person not solely overseeing a number of firms, however touring around the globe assembly essential folks, doing press interviews, talking at conferences, selling philanthropic causes, and extra,” argues Lopp. 

“His actions don’t match the profile of somebody who had the time and psychological bandwidth to even be constructing a totally new monetary system from scratch whereas sustaining excellent anonymity.”

However Murray argues that that is exactly why Nakamoto complained about being “actually busy” on a number of events between 2009 and 2011, ultimately leaving the Bitcoin venture, posting on April 23, 2011 that “I’ve moved on to different issues. It’s in good arms with Gavin and everybody.”

2. Satoshi cautious of presidency, Dorsey labored with them

One other piece of proof that implies Dorsey will not be Nakamoto is that the creator of Bitcoin comes throughout virtually as a cautious recluse and wasn’t a fan of the federal government or authorities management.

Lopp argues that, in distinction, Dorsey is a extremely public determine. 

“The humorous factor about Jack is that, in contrast to most cypherpunks, he was a particularly public particular person who posted what he was as much as on almost an hourly foundation,” he explains.  

Dorsey additionally reportedly spent 2008 and 2015 engaged with the US State Division as a part of a number of delegations to Iraq, Iran and Russia with different representatives from the tech sector, which might look like out of character for Nakamoto. 

3. Satoshi Nakamoto had common PT posting patterns

Lopp additionally famous that Satoshi’s on-line exercise suggests a constant sleeping sample within the Pacific timezone. Cities on this timezone embrace Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver and Tijuana. 

In distinction, Dorsey’s tweets had been way more erratic — in step with somebody who is continually travelling between completely different time zones. Nonetheless, it’s value noting that Dorsey was primarily based in San Francisco across the time Bitcoin was created. 

4. Dorsey and Nakamoto had conflicting actions

A associated level is that Lopp argues that there are particular occasion conflicts that make it uncertain that Dorsey and Nakamoto are the identical particular person. 

For instance, in November 2009, Dorsey tweeted he was having a “late lunch” with enterprise capitalist Fred Wilson, however solely 5 minutes later, Nakamoto dedicated code to the SourceForge repository. 

In one other occasion, Jack mentioned he was strolling to fulfill the mayor of Paris at Metropolis Corridor on Dec. 9, 2009, and solely 18 minutes later, Satoshi posted a number of responses to a technical suggestion thread about Bitcoin. 

One other potential battle arose in July 2010, when Jack tweeted that he was on the brink of go on stage to current on the Sq. headquarters, and posted “Increase” round 28 minutes later, presumably when he had completed the presentation. 

Throughout this time, Satoshi posted to the Bitcoin discuss discussion board.

In fact, when you can design a completely new financial system in your spare time, you may in all probability schedule in just a few posts to throw folks off the scent.

Lopp acknowledges that it’s not not possible that Dorsey pre-timed sure posts on Bitcointalk or posted along with his cell phone whereas on the go, however argues that if that was the case, Dorsey would have picked far more public occasions and settings to set his pre-timed posts as Nakamoto. 

5. Coincidental dates are meaningless

Lopp additionally argues the so-called “numerology” — like Nakamoto signing up for BitcoinTalk on the identical day as Dorsey’s birthday is “absolute junk.” 

“You’ll find patterns in something,” Lopp tells Journal. “It preys upon our monkey mind’s innate want to search out patterns in random noise and attempt to make sense of them.”

There’s really a scientific time period for this known as “Apophenia” — the psychological phenomenon of perceiving significant patterns or connections between unrelated or random issues. It’s seen as one of many key the reason why people can navigate the world in the best way we do. 

Famed physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson as soon as made the same statement. 

“Over centuries of evolution, people’ sample recognition expertise decided pure choice. Hunters expert at recognizing prey and predator and telling toxic vegetation from wholesome ones supplied them a greater likelihood of survival than these blind to the patterns. It enabled the survivors to cross on these pattern-friendly genes to future generations.” 

The controversy goes on

The proof pointing to Dorsey is definitely fascinating, however is much from irrefutable. Murray stays satisfied that Dorsey is Nakamoto. 

“I consider that the Satoshi character is a Jack Dorsey story, that the circumstantial proof, skillset, timeline, background, and modus operandi are an ideal match,” he tells Journal. 

“Previous to my analysis, there have been only a few folks, if any, that had been even conscious Jack was one of many authentic cypherpunks or that he was obsessive about cryptography as a youth, that he knew of Adam Again and Hal Finney and DigiCash by title.”

“The items had been deliberately put there to be discovered, even when we might by no means be afforded the satisfaction of him instantly popping out and saying it’s him.”

Lopp thinks it’s extra more likely to be somebody apart from Dorsey — however argues that for the sake of Bitcoin, we might be higher off not wanting. 

“I discover the mixture of all of the proof to supply a lot doubt {that a} cheap particular person would conclude that it’s way more seemingly that Satoshi was another person,” says Lopp in a weblog submit. 

“Bitcoin is best off with Satoshi’s id remaining unknown. A human might be criticized and politically attacked. A delusion will face up to the take a look at of time.