In 2009, Bitcoin was launched by someone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency was still in its beginning phase, and as such, the identity of the person behind the project was not significant. However, over the years, interest in the identity of Satoshi grew, and methods to determine it like stylometry analysis emerged.
Some argued that Satoshi comprises developers and geniuses who combined their financial and programming language to develop this project. The real identity of Satoshi has continued to be a mystery in the over one decade of Bitcoin’s existence. However, due to the surge in prices, the face behind the person is now a question of interest to almost all crypto enthusiasts.
For instance, Satoshi Nakamoto holds over 1 million bitcoins today, and with the price standing at over $50 thousand, Satoshi could feature among the wealthiest individuals globally. As the identity of Satoshi is continually being sought for, several analysts have used a method called Stylometric analysis to know who Satoshi could be. But what is stylometric analysis? How can it help know Satoshi’s writing style and identity? Keep reading to find out more.
What is Stylometry Analysis
Before making any advancement toward the identification of Satoshi Nakamoto, we must understand what the Stylometry analysis is. Primarily, stylometry is an analysis of the linguistic and literature writing style to identify the author. For instance, according to various experts, authors’ writing styles tend to differ in application and flow.
Therefore, it’s possible to identify an artist behind particular writing based on the linguistic application in that specific piece. The assumption is stylometry is that everyone has a unique vocabulary that they mostly or rarely use. Moreover, some people use short sentences while other writers prefer to use super long sentences, thus distinguishing them from others.
Accordingly, people use colons, semicolons, and other punctuation in different ways. However, the stylometry analysis has one flaw, the analyst only focuses on a text they have met and does not consider the text from millions or billions of other people. For instance, when doing a stylometry analysis of Satoshi’s identity, only publicly known crypto enthusiasts are considered.
If applied correctly, Stylometry analysis can give an actual identity of the author behind certain writings.
Satoshi Nakamoto in Stylometry Analysis
A copy of Satoshi’s writing has been compared with many other writings, and in several circumstances, the analysts have made different conclusions on Satoshi’s identity. According to the analysts, some literary quirks, misspelling, and double spacings are particular to Satoshi Nakamoto’s. Generally, after analyzing several of Satoshi Nakamoto’s handwriting, from the Bitcoin Whitepaper to the many emails, analysts concluded that it’s next to impossible for anyone to copy Satoshi’s writing style.
Therefore, if anyone uses the style, the conclusion should be that it’s Satoshi. Nick Szabo, Ian Grigg, Wei Dai, Hal Finney, and Timothy C May have been candidates in multiple pieces of research done using stylometry analysis. According to some research papers, Nick Szabo used the phrase ‘Proof of work” multiple times in his blog, and the exact words have been used tonnes of times in Bitcoin paper.
Therefore the language style of Nick was deemed closer to Satoshi. Moreover, Ian Grigg’s writing style was also considered almost similar to Satoshi’s. The paper concluded that Wei Dai and Timothy C. May are not strong candidates for Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity. However, the conclusion was Nick Szabo, and Ian Grigg are the closest in the identity of Satoshi. However, that does not conclude that one of the two must be Satoshi.
Gavin Andresen as Satoshi
Other analysts have made different conclusions on Satoshi’s identity. For instance, some have concluded that Gavin Andresen could be the much-sought Bitcoin owner. One of the analysts noted that Gavin Anderson’s style in his Github documents and Satoshi’s bitcoin paper and emails prove that Gavin Anderson is the real Satoshi.
The evidence of his writing style could be conclusive evidence of his identity as Satoshi. The possibility of Gavin being the father of bitcoin increases when you consider that he created the first Bitcoin Faucets. According to various sources, Gavin launched his first Bitcoin Faucet website in 2010, soon after discovering bitcoin.
A Bitcoin faucet is a rewarding system where users are given Satoshi(a millionth of bitcoin) for solving simple tasks like solving captchas. Since Gavin launched the first one, it’s believed that he could be the central brain behind the whole Bitcoin project.
Stylometry Analysis on Satoshi’s Identity
The initial question of this guide was if stylometry analysis can be used to know Satoshi’s real identity. The short answer is Yes. After looking into various analyses made by various experts, it is possible to use stylometric analysis to know the identity of the person behind the Bitcoin project. From the data garnered above, several people have been persons of interest as the search for Satoshi continues.
In the analysis between Ian Grigg, Wei Dai, Timothy C. May, Nick Szabo, and Hal Finney, only two, i.eNick Szabo and Ian Grigg were found to have the closest linguistic style as Satoshi. However, Gavin Andresen has also been considered in the stylometry analysis, and the conclusion was that he could be Satoshi Nakamoto.
However, even with thousands of theories and analyses, there is no concrete evidence attached to anyone to prove their identity as Satoshi. The stylometric analysis, in this case, remains speculative and not conclusive.