Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the creator of BitcoinBitcoinThe first and largest cryptocurrency: a digital currency that no single party controls, with a fixed limit of 21 million coins.. Nobody knows for certain who is behind the name, whether it was one person or a group, or which country Satoshi came from.
What did Satoshi do?
- 31 October 2008: Satoshi sent a short paper, the Bitcoin WhitepaperWhitepaperA document in which the creators of a cryptocurrency or project describe how it works, what it is for and which rules apply to it., to a cryptography mailing list. It described the whole system in nine pages.
- 3 January 2009: The first BlockBlockA batch of transactions added to a blockchain in one go, together with a reference to the block before it. was created. The block contains a headline from that day's edition of The Times, about the UK Chancellor being on the brink of a second bailout for the banks.
- 2009 and 2010: Satoshi worked on the software with other developers and answered questions on online forums.
What happened to Satoshi?
Satoshi stopped posting publicly at the end of 2010, and nothing has been heard from Satoshi since 2011. Development carried on in the hands of other programmers. Many people have since been named as Satoshi, or have claimed to be Satoshi, but nobody has proved it.
Why does it matter?
The creator's disappearance is part of what makes Bitcoin decentralisedDecentralisationWhen power and responsibility are spread across many participants, instead of one bank, company or government controlling a system.. There is no founder who can change the rules, sell the system or shut it down. Bitcoin is open-source softwareOpen sourceSoftware whose source code is open to everyone, so anyone may read it, use it, change it and share it. that anyone can inspect and build on.
Everything in Myntkaup Learn is written and regularly reviewed by the Myntkaup editorial team. It is for education and is not investment advice. Editorial policy. Updated 18 October 2026.