Cryptocurrency or where the Hell is Satoshi Nakamoto?

Bitcoin Symbol

A type of digital currency known as Cryptocurrency whose pseudonyms include such unusual names as   “LiteCoins”, “NameCoins”, and “BitCoins” most of which have been associated with illegal online activity such as money laundering or the Silk Road (“the eBay of illicit goods and services”) site the F.B.I. shut down recently (early October 2013) — which was an online black market for illegal drugs, computer-hacking tools, and even contract killings. 

The Silk Road had nearly a million registered users. The Web site refused all forms of payment except Bitcoins, the digital currency “designed to be as anonymous as cash.” At the time of the shutdown Tuesday (Oct. 1, 2013) of the Silk Road web site, it had processed sales totaling more than nine and a half million BitCoins — reportedly worth about 1.2 billion dollars; this action caused the currency’s value to fall by twenty per cent before quickly recovering.

With all of Bitcoin’s impressive transparency, a key piece of the puzzle remains rather cloudy; that being the answer to the question: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

The Bitcoin Cryptocurrency ‘program’, was launched in 2009 (the concept was introduced in a 2008 white paper by a pseudonymous developer who simply called himself “Satoshi Nakamoto”), for the first three years or so, he regularly answered e-mails but then he simply dropped off the electronic grid.    

Satoshi claimed to be a 37-year-old male living in Japan. His language of choice however was English, and he often alternated between British and American spellings and popular expressions, which some say means that he was trying to mask his nationality or the more likely scenario; Satoshi is actually more than one person.

You see, in Japanese, Satoshi means “clear-thinking” or “wise.” ‘Naka’ can mean “inside” or “relationship” and ‘Moto’ is often used to define “the origin” or “the foundation.” Combine the terms (as in ‘Naka-Moto’) and you could conceivably arrive at “thinking clearly inside the foundation.” There’s limited evidence that Nakamoto even exists outside the context of Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrencies (aka BitCoins, etc.) have gradually gained attention from the media and the public; since 2011 interest has increased rapidly, particularly during the rapid price rise of Bitcoins in April 2013.

A loose definition of a Bitcoin is a ‘Cryptocurrency’ where the creation and transfer of BitCoins is based on an open-source secret coding procedure that is independent of any central authority.   Bitcoins can be transferred through a computer or smartphone without the participation of an intermediate financial institution, such as your local friendly banker.  The process, in short can be described as a peer-to-peer, electronic cash system exchange somewhat like cash purchases.   The basic idea seems to be to avoid creating a “paper trail” that will invariably trigger the over site of government tax collecting agencies.

Initially, BitCoins sounds like a good program, but like many other good and reasonable concepts, abuse is unavoidable.  Here’s a novel idea, someone should develop a system of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange; that’ll keep those pesky tax collectors at bay; maybe Satoshi Nakamoto will emerge from hiding and do just that.  No, Wait, that sounds a lot like bartering, I think that’s been done!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin                        http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto-the-creator-of-bitcoin                                                                                http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2013/10/could-the-silk-road-closure-be-good-for-bitcoin.html                                     http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2013/10/fbi-silk-road-ross-ulbricht-allegations-arrest.html  

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