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tavavextoday at 3:43 AM4 repliesview on HN

Can I just ask why people are so fixated on revealing Satoshi's identity? This article phrases it as some pure, innocent and almost academic pursuit, driven by curiosity and the mystique itself. But the amount of effort spent on trying to find Satoshi is immense. He must be the internet's most doxxed person by now. Is it just because of his wealth? Is someone trying to exact revenge on him? Or is he wanted by the authorities of some country? Why is finding him so important?


Replies

farfatchedtoday at 3:51 AM

I'm curious about his life, in the same way I might read a biography or the Early Life section on a Wikipedia page.

Some people like mysteries.

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ifwintercotoday at 6:44 AM

It's a silly topic to spend (waste) time on, but I can't help it, I just find it sort of fascinating.

It's a mystery where you have to try and put together different pieces of evidence, match things up, try and look for hidden connections - a certain type of human mind (mine, I guess) just finds that process rewarding.

I've gone down most of these rabbit holes and my 2c is it's one of these two people, not any of the most common candidates: Len Sassaman or Paul Le Roux.

Sassaman is dead and Le Roux is in federal prison in the US, which explains why the coins haven't moved

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GJimtoday at 8:49 AM

> Can I just ask why people are so fixated on revealing Satoshi's identity?

Probably the same reason people remain interested in the identity of Jack the Ripper, despite over 130 years having passed.

See also, DB Cooper and who stole the FIFA World Cup.

Nothing wrong with a good mystery.

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system2today at 6:51 AM

There are some legitimate reasons. First one: a government-backed operation that can have even deeper conspiracies. The second most important one is Bitcoin's long-term stability. If people figure out who created it, they can also predict what kind of major crashes can happen, especially Satoshi's wallet with million+ bitcoins used one day.