Finance

NYT Reporter Claims Unmasking of Bitcoin's Satoshi Nakamoto

Is Adam Back really the famed Satoshi or is the New York Times suffering a case of "confirmation bias" in its reports?

Published APR 9

NYT Reporter Claims Unmasking of Bitcoin's Satoshi Nakamoto

Story

Above: Adam Back during the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 28, 2025. Image credit: Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Facts

Since 2008, when Bitcoin first emerged with a nine-page white paper authored by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, there have been dozens who've claimed to have unmasked the real identity of who's behind the fictitious name.
Business Insider
Wired
Bitcoin
Intelligencer
BBC News
This week, John Carreyrou, a reporter from The New York Times, joins their ranks. In a piece published on Wednesday, he posited that Adam Back, a British Bitcoin developer, was in fact the man behind Nakamoto.
The New York Times
BBC News
India Today
Carreyrou pointed to similarities in written samples between the two, alongside cross-overs in dates, but ultimately did not provide smoking-gun evidence for his assertion that the 55-year-old Back was the man behind Bitcoin's founding.
The New York Times
BBC News
India Today
However, Back's name has been tied to that of Satoshi's on a number of previous occasions. Back, a cryptographer and early pioneer of digital currencies, is the founder of Hashcash, a peer-to-peer system that's used in Bitcoin's mining and is cited in Satoshi's founding paper.
BBC News
Intelligencer
Adam Back on X
Back denied a connection to Satoshi in a series of X posts following the New York Times report. "i'm not satoshi, but I was early in laser focus on the positive societal implications of cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash, hence my ~1992 onwards active interest in applied research on ecash, privacy tech on cypherpunks list which led to hashcash and other ideas," he said.
Adam Back on X
He accused the journalist of "confirmation bias" and put the similarities in writing samples down to people discussing a similar interest. He added: "I also don't know who satoshi is, and i think it is good for bitcoin that this is the case, as it helps bitcoin be viewed a new asset class, the mathematically scarce digital commodity." He then reshared a 2023 post which he declared: "we are all satoshi."
Adam Back on X

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

The New York Times conducted a thorough analysis of the public material posted by the two men and the similarities are striking. For instance, both had frequently made the same grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. This evidence, alongside what's previously known about Adam Back, is enough to conclude that he is the man behind Satoshi.

The New York Times

Narrative B

In its report, the New York Times makes the same assertion that's been previously made while providing less evidence than before. It's no secret that Adam Back is a cryptographic researcher with an interest in these things. That's why you see similarities in the writing samples. But other than that, the case is thin. That's probably for the best anyway as Satoshi wanted to remain unknown and not let his personality affect Bitcoin's vision.

Adam Back on X