James Murphy, a cryptocurrency lawyer, sued the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the department knows the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, and should, therefore, share their knowledge with the public. Murphy filed a February Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to get the information but was refused. He now needs a lawsuit to get the information he wants. He based his lawsuit on Rana Saoud, DHS Special Agent, who claimed at a conference in April 2019 that her colleagues met with four people who created Bitcoin.
Rana Saoud, at an OffshoreAlert Conference 2019, an event focused on financial intelligence gathering, revealed that her agency identified the people behind Bitcoin and interviewed them. Murphy has taken these comments seriously and has filed a FOIA request.
Brian Field, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who specialises in FOIA-related litigation, has joined Murphy in his lawsuit. A FOIA boosts transparency and accountability by giving the public access to government documents. Murphy, however, concedes that the DHS agents may have been mistaken and did not interview the real Satoshi Nakamoto.
At the conference, Saoud claimed that the DHS had located Satoshi and three other developers who had created Bitcoin as a team. According to Saoud, the DHS agent asked Satoshi what the purpose of Bitcoin was. Satoshi explained how Bitcoin worked and why it was created. The DHS has never confirmed nor denied Saoud’s claims. Murphy has requested interview notes, emails about the case, and any other records related to the case.
Saoud further claimed that a forward-thinking DHS agent took the initiative to interview Satoshi. The department pushed back on the request but, in the end, allowed a team of DHS agents to interview the alleged Satoshi. The meeting took place in California. The DHS agents, led by the “brilliant” agent, discovered that Satoshi collaborated with three other people to create Bitcoin.
However, Murphy doubts that the DHS agent interviewed the real Satoshi Nakamoto, suggesting that Saoud may have misinterpreted the incident. He suggests that the DHS agent may have interviewed some developers or imposters pretending to be Satoshi. Murphy believes that the identity of Satoshi should be made known because other crypto currencies are clear about who made them. The public has a right to know about this information if the government knows the details. Murphy, however, believes the information should remain secret if it poses a national security risk. He also claims that Satoshi’s identity, if revealed, would benefit Bitcoin because more people would become aware of the digital asset. He dismisses the claim that Satoshi could take over Bitcoin because the decentralised nature of the token prevents such from happening.
On February 12, Murphy attempted to obtain a FOIA through the regular process, requesting four categories of records relating to Saoud’s 2019 statements. He requested information about whether the DHS interviewed anyone using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, whether there were any interviews with people claiming to have invented Bitcoin, and whether there were any records discussing Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity. However, his request was denied.
Last year, HBO aired a documentary claiming that Peter Todd, a cypherpunk, was Satoshi Nakamoto. Critics, however, said the evidence was weak. Nick Szabo is often suspected of creating Bitcoin because of his ties to crypto and writings about digital currencies. However, little evidence has been given to support this claim. Hal Finney is another possibility, having developed proof-of-work algorithms and sadly passing away as Satoshi slowly disappeared from the public eye. However, one researcher pointed out that Hal Finney was running a marathon while Satoshi posted on the forum.
Gavin Andresen, meanwhile, remains a Satoshi candidate that the documentaries or books have not covered. Gavin was the lead developer of Bitcoin after Satoshi left. On 24 May 2007, Gavin wrote a post titled “Tragedy of the email commons” on his blog GavinTech, where he outlined a rough plan to create an “artificial currency” to control spam. The first version of Bitcoin was released on January 9, 2009. Further, Gavin wears a ‘Satoshi outfit’ on his X account and did a comic routine at a Bitcoin conference, pretending to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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