On Thursday Newsweek released a story claiming that Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto was the mysterious creator behind the virtual currency bitcoin, but shortly after the story was published, Nakamoto denied he was the creator and others have questioned the story.
The Newsweek story was about the man they thought was the Satoshi Nakamoto that is credited with creating bitcoin, though no one knows much about the creator. In the article, it claims that though calling the cops and never directly answering questions about bitcoin that this Nakamoto was the one, as well as other information dug up.
The journalist, Leah Goodman, said Nakamoto said things like, "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," and "It's been turned over to other people. ... I no longer have any connection."
After the artcle went live and people went nuts wondering about the legitimacy of the story, Nakamoto sat down with The Associated Press for an interview to dispel the notion that he was responsible for bitcoin.
He claimed that he had only been aware of the existence of bitcoin for about three weeks after he talked with his son about being contacted by a reporter.
Though Nakamoto acknowledged that many details in the Newsweek article were true, he was not involved in bitcoin. "I've got nothing to do with it." He also explained the quote mentioned earlier was misunderstood by Goodman as English is not his first language.
"It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I'm not involved now. That's not what I meant. I want to clarify that."
Newsweek released a statement noting that it was sticking by Goodman and the story, noting that the journalist put the story together "under the same high editorial and ethical standards that have guided Newsweek for more than 80 years" and that evidence dug up for the story points to Nakamoto being the creator.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
