1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: Okay, please introduce yourself now. For the record, my name 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: is Andy Greenberg and I'm a senior writer for Wired. 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: What drew you to the hunt for Setoshi Nakamodo? Well, 4 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: I um, let's see. In late two thousand fifteen, Andy 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: got an email from out of the blue. It was 6 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: encrypted and the writer was using a pseudonym. Andy's mysterious 7 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: correspondent made an incredible claim. He said he possessed documents 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: that revealed conclusively the true identity of Setoshi Nakamoto, the 9 00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: mysterious creator of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, one of the tech 10 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: industry's biggest unsolved mysteries. It was the story of the decade, 11 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:52,680 Speaker 1: a story that could make a journalist career. Andy and 12 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: his correspondent started working together. The evidence was pointing towards 13 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: a little known Australian computer scientist named Craig Right. If 14 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,200 Speaker 1: you just took a glance at this stuff, you would 15 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,720 Speaker 1: very quickly to find enough evidence to convince yourself if 16 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,399 Speaker 1: you believe the documents were real, that this guy had 17 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:16,720 Speaker 1: created Bitcoin, this eccentric Australian genius you know, nobody had 18 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: ever heard of before they collected his old blog posts. 19 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: They did linguistic analysis to compare rights writing style with 20 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: post written by Satoshi. And on December eight Andy published 21 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:36,679 Speaker 1: his blockbuster story and Wired titled Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto 22 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: is probably this unknown Australian genius. And then it happened 23 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: what always seems to happen to the Satoshi hunters, this 24 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: community of bitcoin enthusiasts and cryptocurrency fanatics just went to 25 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: work to methodically disprove the claim that Craig Wright was 26 00:01:55,800 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: Satoshi Nakamoto, and the fallout made Andy Greenberg's life a 27 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 1: living How. Hi, I'm Brad Stone and I'm Julie r H. 28 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,160 Speaker 1: And this week Undercrypted, we're asking the question whatever happened 29 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: to the hunt for Satoshi Nakamoto? Now, Bratt, I know 30 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: this has captivated me for some time. Julie I confess 31 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: to having fruitlessly spent some time on it as well. 32 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: And over the years, publications like The New Yorker, Gizmoto, 33 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: Fast Company, Forbes, the London Review of Books, Vice have 34 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: all tried to find sitution. It's become a kind of 35 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:41,639 Speaker 1: journalistic tarbie. The more reporters getting tangled in the mystery, 36 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: the worst fever, and there's this question of whether Satoshi 37 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: should even be identified. You know, Satoshi still controls about 38 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: a million bitcoin, making them the largest holder of the 39 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,679 Speaker 1: cryptocurrency and a billionaire. In paper, a journalist would say, 40 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: the world has a right to know, but maybe this 41 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: genius just wants to be left alone. And if we 42 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: never find out Setoci's true identity, does it even matter anyway? 43 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: Stay with its first, Brad, remind us what we really 44 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: know about Setoshi. All we really know about Setoshi is 45 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: what he wrote. In October two tho paper appeared online 46 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: describing a new kind of digital money called bitcoin. A 47 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: few months later, Satoshi released the very first bitcoin software, 48 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: And this was right after the financial crisis. Is your 49 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: money safe? The fault of Lehman brothers, And of course 50 00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: it is not just Lehman's night. Bank of America sealing 51 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,840 Speaker 1: a deal to buy Maryland for twenty nine dollars a 52 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: share that is roughly Bitcoin attracted libertarians and people who 53 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:52,400 Speaker 1: had lost faith in the global financial system. They liked 54 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: this idea of an electronic currency with no central bank 55 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: standing behind it. In the beginning, Bitcoin was only known 56 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: within small circles of developers, and for a while Satoshi 57 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,760 Speaker 1: communicated with them sending emails, talking on bulletin boards, but 58 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:11,280 Speaker 1: those people say they never met Setoshi in person. In 59 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: two thousand and eleven, as bitcoin was starting to become 60 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: associated with shady criminal enterprises like the Silk Road, which 61 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: was an illegal online drug market, Satoshi disappeared and his 62 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: final post said quote, I've moved on to other things. 63 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: It's in good hands. And with that the legend of 64 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: Satoshi was born. So Brad together we went to interview 65 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: the very first Setoshi hunter. Right, Joshua Davis is a 66 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: great journalist who wrote one of the first stories about 67 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: bitcoin for the New Yorker magazine all the way back 68 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,479 Speaker 1: in October two eleven. Yeah, and that's just a few 69 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:00,279 Speaker 1: months after Setoshi went silent. We went for to the 70 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:03,640 Speaker 1: Mission District in San Francisco for this interview, meeting josh 71 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: at a small office. There was a walk up apartment 72 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: with just a couple of rooms and a gate on 73 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:11,400 Speaker 1: the entry door. We sat down in a quiet room 74 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: at the back. Please introduce yourself. My name is Joshua Davis, 75 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,640 Speaker 1: and I am the co founder of Epic magazine and 76 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: a contributing editor at Wired. Josh's article cryptocurrency introduced bitcoin 77 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,919 Speaker 1: to a lot of readers. It also said a pattern 78 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 1: that would be repeated over and over. Journalists would set 79 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: out to understand bitcoin and then get enticed by the 80 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: Satoshi mystery and end up going down the rabbit hole. 81 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: You know, it's like a classic treasure hunt where you 82 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,599 Speaker 1: don't know exactly where the treasure is, but you could. 83 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: You see one crumb, and you follow that crumb to 84 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: the next crumb, and and next thing you know, you've 85 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: been led down this crazy journey. One big win was 86 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: only worth about three dollars at this time. Josh ended 87 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: up buying some and spent them one of the only 88 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: places you could find that accepted it at the time, 89 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: Howard Johnson's hotel near Disneyland. Yikes, and since one bitcoin 90 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: does around ten thousand dollars today, that ended up being 91 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: a very expensive hotel room. Josh also attended a cryptoconference 92 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: in Santa Barbara, one of the first, and became convinced 93 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,880 Speaker 1: that one of the attendees must be Setoshi hiding in 94 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: plain sight. He scanned the attendee list and going on 95 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: clues like the fact that Setoshi seemed to use some 96 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: British sayings in his writing, he settled on an Irish 97 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:38,000 Speaker 1: cryptography student named Michael Clear. As Josh described it in 98 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: the story, he met with Michael outside the conference and 99 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 1: then asked him, point blank, are you Setoshi Nakamoto? We 100 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: talked about bitcoin a little bit and I said to him, 101 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: I'm also looking for the person who created it. And 102 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,880 Speaker 1: I said, I know, it happened to notice that you 103 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: have a lot of the same experience, and so I 104 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:04,000 Speaker 1: just want to ask you. Are you set Toshi? And 105 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:09,640 Speaker 1: he said no, But if I was, I wouldn't tell you. 106 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,240 Speaker 1: From the story, it's clear Josh wasn't entirely sure if 107 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: Michael was telling the truth, right, because denying it is 108 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: exactly what Satoshi would do. Many years later, Josh's circumspect 109 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: about the challenges of revealing Satoshi's identity. I think the 110 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:32,400 Speaker 1: biggest problem is that there's just not a lot to 111 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: go on, and so you very quickly start making assumptions. 112 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: This is something we heard over and over. You start 113 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: finding ways to convince yourself that you're on the right track. 114 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 1: A confirmation bias. So, you know, let's look at some 115 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: of those assumptions. British English, the assumption that it's a 116 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 1: heat because he's using the name Satoshi Nakamoto. I mean 117 00:07:55,560 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 1: the very initial assumption that he's Japanese. Again, there's no 118 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: guarantee that he's Japanese. At many points in the reporting, 119 00:08:06,320 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: I was imagining Satoshi just laughing, just laughing at me, 120 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:16,120 Speaker 1: and then over the years, as other people have chased him, 121 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: just laughing at everybody else. A few years later, in 122 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,440 Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen, the crypto community got a rather large 123 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: surprise when Newsweek magazine ran a story revealing the true 124 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: identity of the creator of Bitcoin. It has been one 125 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: of the biggest mysteries raging across the internet and business worlds. 126 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:45,199 Speaker 1: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? The man who created bitcoin is 127 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: known as the father of Bitcoin, the online currency now 128 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,680 Speaker 1: worth billions. Take a look at this scene last night 129 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:54,920 Speaker 1: after Newsweek published an article claiming the man in these 130 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: images is the Bitcoin founder. Now, this is probably the 131 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,720 Speaker 1: best known attempt at un mask Satoshi. So speaking to 132 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: the woman who wrote it, was at the top of 133 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,959 Speaker 1: our list. My name is Leah McGrath Goodman, and I 134 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,960 Speaker 1: was the writer of the Bitcoin story cover story for Newsweek. 135 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: Back at this time, Newsweek had been temporarily out of print, 136 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: Leah's article appeared on the cover of their first issue 137 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: back and there was a lot of anticipation around it. 138 00:09:23,559 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 1: Leah had identified a sixty four year old Japanese American 139 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:31,240 Speaker 1: living in southern California, and his real name, as it 140 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,560 Speaker 1: turned out, was Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. When this hit on March, 141 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: I was back in New York. I was online and 142 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,560 Speaker 1: watching from across the country. There was a huge reaction 143 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: to the story, something Leah says she never could have expected. 144 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: Camera crews and police cars descended on Dorian Nakamoto's home. 145 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: He was hounded by reporters while trying to leave this house. 146 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: I hadn't seen anything like that in California since I 147 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 1: was a little kid with the O. J. Simpson Wake 148 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,120 Speaker 1: Bronco car chase. I was in complete shock. I just 149 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: got up and walked across the room and people were 150 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:08,560 Speaker 1: congratulating me and shaking my hand, and I went to 151 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: the ladies room and just threw up um and just panicked, 152 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: had a panic attack because I realized that the theories 153 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: of events that had been found in motion was um 154 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: something I couldn't change or do anything about. In addition 155 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: to the media surface, Leah faced an outcry from bitcoin 156 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: die hards online on Twitter and read it immediately with 157 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: people trying to discredit her story as well. But the 158 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: biggest blow probably came from Dorian Nakamoto himself. When reporters 159 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,199 Speaker 1: confronted him on this driveway, he told them he had 160 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: never worked on cryptography or alternative currencies. It took me 161 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: a while to get Lea comfortable with talking about this 162 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: moment in her life. Corresponded with her for a few 163 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:06,200 Speaker 1: months and met her for coffee when she visited New 164 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: York before she agreed to speak with us. I'm not 165 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:13,359 Speaker 1: surprised she was reticent because that story was fairly discredited 166 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 1: in the in the tech community. So I'm dying to 167 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:18,040 Speaker 1: know Julie. If she could go back again, would she 168 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: still write her story? Yeah? I asked her about that. 169 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:23,600 Speaker 1: If you go back again and you knew that this 170 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 1: whole reaction was going to happen, and I mean, it's 171 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,319 Speaker 1: sort of like altered your life quite a bit, would 172 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: you still go back and write this story? Yeah. I 173 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: have actually had this question recently put to me by 174 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: a couple other people, and I said I couldn't really 175 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:41,600 Speaker 1: say if I would do it again to be honest, 176 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: So does she still think that Dorian is the real 177 00:11:44,600 --> 00:11:47,640 Speaker 1: said Tosi. Unlike the other people that we've talked to, 178 00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: Leah is still quite certain that Dorian is a guy, 179 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: just perhaps as part of a group rather than by himself. 180 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 1: And we should point out that news Week never retracted 181 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:13,439 Speaker 1: that story. That probably should have been enough to dissuade 182 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 1: other journalists from following in Leah's footsteps. But as the 183 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: price of bitcoin rose from two hundred dollars in the 184 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 1: fall to eight hundred dollars a year later, the stakes 185 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: got higher and the intrigue around the mystery of Satoshi 186 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: got even more intense and irresistible. I found it really 187 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,360 Speaker 1: exciting that there was this unknown thing, like I've always 188 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:40,320 Speaker 1: writing about whether anonymitia is possible on the Internet, and 189 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: it kind of excited me that someone had actually achieved it. 190 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:45,920 Speaker 1: Someone had done something really significant on the Internet, and 191 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 1: we still didn't know who they were. That's Andy Greenberg, 192 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:52,000 Speaker 1: the writer for Wired magazine we met at the beginning 193 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,839 Speaker 1: of the episode. Brad and I traveled down to One 194 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 1: World Trade in Manhattan, where the Wired offices are located. 195 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,800 Speaker 1: Andy has a bushy beard which he was stroking as 196 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:04,319 Speaker 1: he was remembering a time in his life that he 197 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:08,079 Speaker 1: had tried to forget. Andy says he was originally deflated 198 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: by the Newsweek story. He couldn't believe Satoshi was hiding 199 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: in plain sight. You see, Andy was a Setoshi hunter himself. 200 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: When he was still at Forbes magazine. He had written 201 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,760 Speaker 1: a story about a man named Hal Finny. Now, How 202 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: was a computer scientist and the first person to ever 203 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:32,640 Speaker 1: exchange emails and bitcoin with Setoshi. Andy suspected maybe How 204 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: was Setoshi himself. Andy had visited Hal, who had advanced 205 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,960 Speaker 1: a LS at his home in two thousand and fourteen. 206 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:43,080 Speaker 1: At the time, he thought it was significant that Hal 207 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,840 Speaker 1: and Dorian Nakamoto lived only a half mile away from 208 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,360 Speaker 1: each other in Los Angeles. Yeah, but then he concluded 209 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: it was just that confirmation bias at work. Again. There's 210 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 1: a line in that story that I thought was resident 211 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: and really applies to this entire kind of topic, which 212 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,600 Speaker 1: as I believe that those connections were in fact random, 213 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: that Finny is telling the truth when he denies helping 214 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: to an event bitcoin, and that I am only the 215 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,600 Speaker 1: most recent of a long string of journalists to succumb 216 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: to the mirage of us Atoshi Nakamoto shaped pattern in 217 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: a collection of meaningless facts. Yeah, that's it's even more 218 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,280 Speaker 1: painful to think about those words now because I I 219 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: don't think I may have felt for it again. That's 220 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,280 Speaker 1: because about a year after the Newsweek story fell apart 221 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: in late and he started getting encrypted emails from someone 222 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: using the name weren Brandwyn Goern said he was in 223 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: possession of emails, texts, accounting documents, and other evidence that 224 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:48,280 Speaker 1: conclusively revealed that an esoteric Australian computer scientist named Craig 225 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: Wright was the one and only Satoshi nakamuk and he 226 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: was looking for advice and a good journalist to share 227 00:14:55,560 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: this document trove with. So of course I I couldn't 228 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: let Gun just take this to another reporter. I mean, 229 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:07,040 Speaker 1: I would have, you know, been losing out on the 230 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: biggest story. And I'm sure I'm sure that Green knew 231 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: what he was doing, and so I negotiated with him 232 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: that we would delve into it together. Investigated cod byeline 233 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: of story, which is very strange because he's not a 234 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: journalist and I don't know his real name. Andy spent 235 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:31,280 Speaker 1: three NonStop weeks working on the story, identifying Craig right 236 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,640 Speaker 1: as Setoshi throwing himself right back into it despite his hesitation. 237 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: I dropped everything like eating and sleeping. They reported carefully 238 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: worried about inadvertently tipping off their competition. So we were 239 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:49,600 Speaker 1: constantly doing these really kg interviews where we were just 240 00:15:49,680 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: asking these really circumspects questions that people. They spent hours 241 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 1: pouring over old Craig Right blog posts comparing his style 242 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: to that of Setoshi's. Andy was focusing on a possible 243 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: cover story for Wired, but he also was preparing a 244 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:08,480 Speaker 1: shorter piece just in case he heard that competition was 245 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 1: working on the same story. Andy and Goren contacted Craig 246 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: Right directly, but he was cag full of hints, non 247 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: denials and even a little bit of menace. Right was 248 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 1: really weird right from the beginning and just got back 249 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:29,280 Speaker 1: to us with these pseudo denials, like not really denying 250 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: that he was the guy. They were kind of menacing 251 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: responses that were not helpful but not not actual denials either, 252 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 1: which is like, I feel like that's what Satoshi would 253 00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 1: do to kind of but they were meaner than Satoshi 254 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: is in his um you know, original persona. A picture 255 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: seemed to emerge of this eccentric Craig Right, who had 256 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: worked in tandem to create bitcoin with a forensic investigator 257 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: in US Army veteran named Dave Kleinman who had passed away. 258 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: And so the weird tone of Craig Rights writing, which 259 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: was kind of paranoid and angry and just very strange, 260 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: the fact that didn't match to Toshi's persona that seemed okay, 261 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:15,080 Speaker 1: like we could explain it away. And then just as 262 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 1: that picture was coming into focus, Andy got word that Gizmodo, 263 00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: the tech news site, was working on the same story. 264 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: Wired rushed its story onto the web. To be clear, 265 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,960 Speaker 1: we did not have the opportunity to do the story 266 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: we wanted to do. Instead, I heard that Gizmodo was 267 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: working on a piece, and like an hour later we 268 00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,920 Speaker 1: published hours because we were not going to like run 269 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: the risk of losing what could be a big scoop. 270 00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: The next few days were pretty dark for Andy. They 271 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: were miserable days because even if you get the rights, 272 00:17:55,280 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 1: everyone's furious a view for having violated the privacy Setoshi Nakamoto. 273 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,639 Speaker 1: Members of the bigcoin community were furious at him and 274 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: Wired for trying to unmask Setoshi. Many of them believe 275 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,720 Speaker 1: the world should never find out who Setoshi is and 276 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:14,879 Speaker 1: that the person deserves the privacy. It was like he 277 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: had desecrated a temple. The blowback was as bad as 278 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: anything experienced by lea newsweek. Bitcoin is, by its nature 279 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:25,879 Speaker 1: this thing that a lot of people see as a 280 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:29,119 Speaker 1: privacy tool, although it actually is very difficult to use 281 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:31,800 Speaker 1: in a private way. As you know, everybody knows. Increasingly 282 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:35,639 Speaker 1: it's it's becoming more understood that bitcoin is not actually 283 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: very easy to use in a private way. But it 284 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:41,840 Speaker 1: comes from the world of cryptography, where everyone is obsessed 285 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: with privacy, and so there are a lot of people 286 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,640 Speaker 1: who are just angry at me and gorn and wired 287 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:52,960 Speaker 1: for having even attempted to out the docs. Setoshi, Um, 288 00:18:53,040 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: this poor genius who just wanted to be hidden. My 289 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:05,920 Speaker 1: Twitter mentions were just a war zone for weeks to come. 290 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 1: So I spent you know, these just defending the decision 291 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: to try to do this. As journalists. I hope you 292 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: guys can see that you can't you can't not do 293 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,440 Speaker 1: it if the clues come to you. It's not like 294 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: it's not like it's a TOCI is just a random 295 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: private person. He would be a multi billionaire with immense 296 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,320 Speaker 1: power and money and influence, you know, and that you 297 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:41,880 Speaker 1: know that really matters, Like I do think it's completely 298 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: defensible to to to say who's a toci is if 299 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,560 Speaker 1: you know. But then things got worse. A journalist from 300 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:53,360 Speaker 1: Forbes wrote a story suggesting that Craig Right had falsified 301 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:57,120 Speaker 1: his academic record, that he didn't in fact have multiple 302 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:01,639 Speaker 1: PhD s, and then another reporter up information showing that 303 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:04,600 Speaker 1: Craig Wright had backdated some of his blog posts to 304 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: make it seem like you wrote them back at the 305 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,120 Speaker 1: creation of bitcoin. Yeah, and he says he knew about that, 306 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: but rationalized it. He felt like Craig was leaving him 307 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,479 Speaker 1: these breadcrumbs that he'd previously concealed. You know a lot 308 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:18,920 Speaker 1: of people have been pointing to that and said, what 309 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:20,879 Speaker 1: were you guys thinking? You even saw that he had 310 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: backdated the blog posts? How could you be so silly? 311 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: And I don't know. It's a good point. It was 312 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,159 Speaker 1: confirmation by us, like we had other evidence that was 313 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 1: pointing in the positive direction. So we found ways to 314 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 1: tell ourselves that the negative stuff didn't matter as much 315 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,120 Speaker 1: as it should have. Andy followed up three days after 316 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 1: the original article with a story and Wired that said 317 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: that elements of craig wright story didn't add up. That 318 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: later story was titled new Clues suggests Craig Wright suspected 319 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:55,920 Speaker 1: Bitcoin creator, maybe a hoaxer now, to be fair, and 320 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 1: he had hedged his original story well. He made sure 321 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 1: to say in that first piece that Craig could be 322 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: a huckster. But that's the kind of nuance that gets 323 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: lost in a media scrum, right, and almost didn't matter. 324 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,360 Speaker 1: The Gizmoto story that also identified Craig was less careful 325 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: and together, the impression was that both publications had identified 326 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: Craig as Setoshi. Now they were seemingly big, embarrassing holes 327 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: in their stories. It seemed like another journalistic failure to 328 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,040 Speaker 1: hunt Setoshi down. About six months later, by the way, 329 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: Craig Wright tried to prove publicly that he was Atoshi Nakamoto. 330 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: He gave a technical demonstration that convinced Gavin Andreessen, a 331 00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,600 Speaker 1: high profile member of the bitcoin community, But then a 332 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: reputable security researcher alleged that he had faked as proof. 333 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,239 Speaker 1: Rights claimed to be Satoshi seems to have collapsed, at 334 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: least for now, after the whole painful episode. What really 335 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,719 Speaker 1: shocked Andy was that readers didn't seem to care as 336 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,440 Speaker 1: much as he thought they would, right. He actually said 337 00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: readership was kind of disappointing. Craig writes story people were 338 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,680 Speaker 1: less interested, Like I thought that would blow up the internet, 339 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 1: and it didn't because people had already gone through this 340 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,720 Speaker 1: once with the newsweek piece and they kind of didn't 341 00:22:12,760 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: care as much. And then after Craig writes kind of 342 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: like disappointing mysteries, you know, resolution, but then it's not 343 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: a resolution, and then he comes out again and then 344 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,959 Speaker 1: that's disproven, and it's kind of like never resolved. Uh, 345 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:32,240 Speaker 1: it's just made the mystery much less fun. Uh, and 346 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: it's it's just kind of sad. And I I know 347 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: that I am part of making that mystery less fun. 348 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: That it makes me. It makes me sad that like 349 00:22:43,200 --> 00:22:48,280 Speaker 1: there was this kind of very pure and like super 350 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 1: interesting question of who's a Toci Nakamoto And now I 351 00:22:51,840 --> 00:23:02,760 Speaker 1: just get like nauseated thinking about it. And there's one 352 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 1: other journalist that we talked to, though, Nathaniel Popper from 353 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: the New York Times, who actually covers bitcoin but has 354 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: only made a best guess at who Setosi is rather 355 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 1: than writing this big expose meant to go on page 356 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:18,200 Speaker 1: one of the paper. It doesn't mean he hasn't been interested. 357 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:21,919 Speaker 1: He's just been extremely cautious. There's some part of me 358 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: that's always on edge, waiting for the email that finally says, 359 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,160 Speaker 1: you know, here, I am here, here it is right. 360 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,160 Speaker 1: I doubt anyone could be more curious about the setoci 361 00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:33,920 Speaker 1: hunt than someone like Nathan. But he says he hasn't 362 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: believed the previous attempts for more than a few hours. 363 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: You know, I remember when when Dorian, when that Newsweek 364 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: story came out, and I remember when the Craig Rights 365 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: story came out. There were certainly a few hours where 366 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: it was this open question. I thought, you know, maybe 367 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,479 Speaker 1: this this is it. But I think this is one 368 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:56,120 Speaker 1: of these cases where the kind of online mob very quickly, 369 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: uh pulls together the evidence on sized and um, you know, 370 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,040 Speaker 1: people reached opinions pretty quickly. But Nathan told us that 371 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: he does hope we'll find out who Satoshi is, and 372 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,800 Speaker 1: so you know, it wouldn't surprise me if we do 373 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: find out at some point. And I'll say, I'm constantly 374 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:20,240 Speaker 1: getting emails from people who claimed to be Satoshi and say, 375 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring forward the evidence 376 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: when the time is right. So what do you think, bred, 377 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: do you think we'll ever find out who Setoshi is? 378 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,600 Speaker 1: You know, unless Satoshi comes out and move some of 379 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 1: that original block of bitcoin. I think there's gonna be 380 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: some ambiguity that the challenges that we've built up Setohi 381 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: into this legend. And yet people are fallible, They make mistakes, 382 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 1: you know, they tell little lies that can get exposed. 383 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:48,880 Speaker 1: I think Andy Greenberg from Wired said of the best 384 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: Julie when he told us we're going to need Setoshi's 385 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:54,479 Speaker 1: cooperation if we're ever going to settle this. What do 386 00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,120 Speaker 1: you think, Yeah, I think you're right. I think we've 387 00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,800 Speaker 1: just built up this character. And obviously, as a journalist, 388 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 1: I'd love to be the one to break this story. 389 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 1: But then as just a person watching this, this creation 390 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: and seeing how someone has escaped, you know, any sort 391 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,680 Speaker 1: of tracking is just fascinating. And I don't really want 392 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: Setoci to ever be found either. Right, there are a 393 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: lot of members of the bitcoin community that want them 394 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 1: to come back now, because there there's this division right 395 00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:24,040 Speaker 1: in the community between kind of traditional bitcoin and something 396 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,960 Speaker 1: called bitcoin Cash, there's lots of animosity without getting too 397 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,400 Speaker 1: deep into the split, I mean, it's a tocy come 398 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 1: back and establish some some order to this world. I 399 00:25:34,040 --> 00:25:35,879 Speaker 1: mean there's pros and cons of that too, right, it 400 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: would be nice to have someone come established order. But 401 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 1: it was also a bitcoins, something that's supposed to be 402 00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 1: so decentralized and not really have one thing ruling it. It 403 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: It was just meant to be perfect that the onset 404 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: and now you know, all these divisions had happened. There's 405 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 1: other cryptocurrencies out there that people say are going to 406 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: be better than Bitcoin, and it's just going to be 407 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:01,000 Speaker 1: such an interesting story to keep following. Maybe we do 408 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: keep Stoshi alone as an icon. I mean, one of 409 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: the great things about this is that he you know, 410 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: he establishes that there is such a thing as anonymity online. Right. 411 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,000 Speaker 1: That principle has been undermined so many times over the years, 412 00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:22,920 Speaker 1: and yet Stocia kind of re establishes it. And that's 413 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: it for this week's Decrypted. Thanks for listening. Join us 414 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 1: next week for an even more special episode where we 415 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:34,719 Speaker 1: revealed the true identity of Satoshi Nakamotive. That's not true, folks, 416 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,160 Speaker 1: but do let us know what you thought of today's show. 417 00:26:37,560 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: You can email us at decrypted at bloomberg dot net 418 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: or reach out to me on Twitter and I'm at 419 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 1: Julie ver H and I'm at brad Stone. If you 420 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 1: haven't already subscribed to our show wherever you get your podcasts, 421 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 1: and leave us a rating or a reef. It really 422 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: help us reach new listeners. This episode was produced by 423 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 1: Pia Gedkari, Magnus hand Lesen, Liz Smith and tofor Foreheaz. 424 00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: Francesco Levie is the head of Bloomberg Podcasts and We'll 425 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 1: see you next week. M