Amid growing criticism of an uncertain future and mounting reports of a slumping cryptocurrency market comes a bit of news that resuscitates the existence of the mysterious Bitcoin founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto has long been rumored to be the anonymous founder of the largest cryptocurrency in the world. And whenever any report of his presence surfaces online, the rumormill goes haywire.
The latest such report that further strengthens the existence of Satoshi Nakamoto comes in the form of a recent donation where the alleged Bitcoin founder is said to have donated 50 BTC to Grin, a privacy-oriented cryptocurrency native to mimblewimble blockchain. The censorship-resistant cryptocurrency which is named after a curse from the Harry Potter book series, said in a tweet on Monday earlier this week that it had received a new donation in their Grin General Fund from a person who demanded anonymity.
This rather generous act of charity (BTC price is around USD 8,663) has incited speculations of that the anonymous donor could have possibly been none other than Nakamoto himself. The tweet from Grin reads: "ANNOUNCEMENT: Donation to the Grin General Fund - Nov 11: @lehnberg wrote: I'm pleased to announce receipt of another coinbase donation to Grin's General Fund:"
The tweet also includes a link to blockchain explorer and search engine Blockchair where it shows the transaction details. The tweet also carries a link to Grin's forum which reveals Grin developer Daniel Lehnberg's acknowledgement and more details about his exchange with the donor.
In the forum Lehnberg wrote: "I had the privilege to interact briefly with this donor who wishes to remain anonymous... It feels like 2009/2010 again."
Satoshi, or "the donor" who wished to remain anonymous, in a long comment to Lehnberg replied: "Don't worry, you are doing great. It's wonderful that we have GRIN now, our motives are not economical! It's about the technology and the protocol. Please put it to good use for the development of GRIN."
The donor's wish to remain anonymous and his request to put the donation to good use for Grin's development without economic dependencies, is highly suggestive of Satoshi Nakamoto. The rumor was, however, stirred up by Litecoin founder, Charlie Lee, who in his post on Telegram announced that the coins were mined back in December 2010. He, however, brushed it off as a joke.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Satoshi Nakamoto, is a name that is synonymous with the founder of Bitcoin. However, the real founder has reserved his right to remain anonymous. And although the real Nakamoto remains adamant about his identity, there have been several fake Nakamotos claiming to the mysterious creator of Bitcoin.
Recently, a German man named Jorg Molt who could potentially be a co-creator of Bitcoin. Molt, or "Nakamolto" as the media began calling him, was a guest speaker at last year's Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies. He was being introduced as the "co-founder" of bitcoin. This lead many people to question whether that meant Molt was really Satoshi Nakamoto.
However, Molt who claimed to own as many as 250,000 BTCs was exposed by Block Tower chief information officer Air Paul who stated on Twitter that the institute had hosted a scammer. While another man named Kenneth Bosak shared a video in which he is seen confronting Molt at World Crypto Con, claiming that Molt was not what he was claiming to be.
If Molt's claim of owning over 250,000 BTCs is true, then that would make him a bitcoin billionaire since bitcoin is trading around $8600 now. There have been several others in the past who have claimed to be the founder of the most popular cryptocurrency in the world, including an Australian tech development named Craig Wright.
