New research affirms Craig Wright isn’t Satoshi Nakamoto based off location data
Prominent cryptocurrency researchers joined forces and uncovered compelling evidence that Craig Wright isn’t Satoshi Nakamoto. By comparing Satoshi’s IP address and Wright’s own testimony about his whereabouts at the beginning of 2009, researchers found that the two were at the opposite sides of the globe at the time.
Craig Wright unwittingly affirms he is not Satoshi Nakamoto
The saga of Craig Wright, one of the most controversial figures in the crypto industry, shows no signs of stopping. And while outrageous claims coming from Wright aren’t exactly news, it now seems that one of his claims will become some of the strongest evidence against him.
In a Medium post from Apr. 6, Wright wrote about the start of his alleged involvement with Bitcoin. He wrote, in detail, about the setup he used to run Bitcoin nodes, as well as the number of machines he used and where he kept them.
Wright further wrote:
“In my ranch that I used to own in Bagnoo, Australia, I converted part of my shed and home to run computers. In my house outside of Sydney, I took my garage and ran racks of machines.”
He noted that he traveled to his farm both on Jan. 3, when the genesis block is dated, and on Jan. 9, when the first block was mined.
However, previous research has shown that Satoshi Nakamoto‘s location at that time was not in Australia, as Wright’s was, but in California.
Old research puts Satoshi Nakamoto in California
Twitter user Bounty Hunter, who is widely thought to be the best authority on the matter, was the first one to pinpoint Satoshi Nakamoto’s exact location. In his 2016 blog post, the researcher revealed two IP addresses used to send and receive Bitcoins on Jan. 10, 2009.
As the only two people working on the project at that time were Hal Finney, Bitcoin’s earliest contributor, and Satoshi Nakamoto, it was relatively easy to determine which one of those belonged to Satoshi.
The IP address showed that, at the time, Satoshi was in Van Nuys, California. SeekingSatoshi, a well-known crypto researcher on Twitter, asserted that the address wasn’t associated with a VPN or a TOR exit node.
Satoshi's IP address not assigned to a VPN service
68.164.57.219 is not a Proxy/VPN
"This IP address appears to be a normal connection" pic.twitter.com/ZIKRMevk0o
— SeekingSatoshi (@jimmy007forsure) June 17, 2019
As the researcher pointed out, metadata from various versions of the Bitcoin Whitepaper has revealed the timezone in which Satoshi Nakamoto operated. Analysis of the times and frequency of his online activity revealed that he was living in the U.S., and could have been either a student or a teacher.
Metadata from various versions of the Bitcoin whitepaper reveal timezones.
Analysis of the timezones/times/dates/frequency of his online activity reveal more info.
-700 UTC, -600 UTC, -500 UTC
Online activity suggests a student or teacher
Living in the USA – Not Australia— SeekingSatoshi (@jimmy007forsure) June 17, 2019
There is currently no evidence that suggests Wright traveled to the U.S. at the time when Satoshi was active online. However, none of this was apparently enough to convince his legion of fans, many of whom have commented on SeekingSatoshi’s thread disputing his findings.
As of June, 2019, none of you knows if Craig is or isn't Satoshi. That's where this is at. And i don't know, either.
— christopher helweg (@christo85303622) June 17, 2019