Satoshi Nakamoto

Satoshi Nakamoto (fl. 31 October 2008 – 26 April 2011) is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database. Nakamoto was active in the development of bitcoin until December 2010.

Nakamoto's true identity is unknown. Various people have been posited as the person or group of people behind his name. He used a Japanese name and gave his residence as Japan, but many have speculated that he is actually a British software and cryptography expert who worked on bitcoin in the United Kingdom. If Nakamoto is an individual person, then his bitcoin holdings make him one of the wealthiest people in the world. His wallet, which has been untouched since 2010, holds an estimated 1.1 million bitcoins. At their July 14, 2025 price of more than $123,000 each, these were worth nearly $135 billion.