Elon Musk denies being Satoshi Nakamoto; says he 'obviously' doesn't know Bitcoin creator

Elon Musk, who is known to impact the price of cryptocurrencies with just his tweets, has clarified that he is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous person or a group of people believed to have invented Bitcoin. While Tesla CEO Elon Musk still remains one of the most significant personalities to support cryptocurrencies, he stressed in a podcast with Lex Fridman that he did not invent Bitcoin while arguing that the identity of the person is not as important as the evolution of ideas that led to the cryptocurrency. Musk even suggested that Nick Szabo is “probably more” responsible for the evolution of ideas.

The debate on the identity of  Satoshi Nakamoto is still open and people have had varying speculations on the person or people behind Bitcoin’s invention ever since the cryptocurrency was launched. However, Musk, who was previously suggested to be the Bitcoin inventor, has outrightly denied the claim. 

In a podcast with Lex Fridman, Tesla CEO was asked if “for sure” he is not Satoshi Nakamoto and the billionaire repeated his denial. Noting that Musk had dismissed the suggestions back in 2008, Fridman asked if the SpaceX founder would tell the world if he were the Bitcoin inventor. In response, Musk said, “Yeah”. 

Elon Musk stressed 'evolution of ideas' is important

It is to note that Musk weighed in on the mystery of Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto and argued that the true identity of the person is not as important as the evolution of ideas that led to the cryptocurrency. According to Tesla CEO, crypto pioneer, Nick Szabo is driving the evolution of cryptocurrencies.

Musk told the podcaster and artificial intelligence researcher, “You can look at the evolution of ideas before the launch of Bitcoin and see who wrote, you know, about those ideas.”

Fridman had initially asked if its a feature or a bug that Satoshi Nakamoto's identity is unknown. Musk said, “It's an interesting kind of quirk of human history that there is a particular technology that is a completely anonymous inventor.”

Musk 'obviously' doesn't know who created Bitcoin

"Obviously, I don't know who created Bitcoin ... it seems as though Nick Szabo is probably more than anyone else responsible for the evolution of those ideas,” he said, adding Szabo “claims not to be Nakamoto ... but he seems to be the one more responsible for the ideas behind it than anyone else." 

Further, Musk told Fridman, “Perhaps singular figures aren't even as important as the figures involved in the evolution of ideas that led to things…It's sad to think about history but maybe most names will be forgotten. What is the name anyway, it's a name, a name attached to an idea. What does it even mean?"

About Nick Szabo, Satoshi Nakamoto 

Nick Szabo is known as the inventor of one of Bitcoin’s predecessors, ‘Bit Gold’ and digital smart contracts, which eventually became the crucial part of the ethereum blockchain. Szabo has also denied that he is Satoshi Nakamoto and told financial author Dominic Frisby in 2014, “I'm afraid you got it wrong doxing me as Satoshi, but I'm used to it."

While cryptocurrencies have majorly bagged the attention of the entire world, Satoshi Nakamoto’s disappearance triggered a series of speculation shortly after Bitcoin was launched. Nakamoto’s anonymity sparked a wider cryptocurrency gold rush that led to the creation of thousands of different coins. But, the mystery around the person’s identity has contributed to Bitcoin becoming an independent decentralised technology. 

(IMAGE: AP/Unsplash)