The possibility of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor and whistleblower, being Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin creator, was recently raised. Snowden responded and warned about what should happen if he ever claims to be the Bitcoin founder.
Snowden’s Response About Him Being Bitcoin Creator
Snowden didn’t categorically affirm or deny whether he was Satoshi while responding to this speculation about him being the Bitcoin founder. However, he stated that if he ever claims to be Satoshi, everyone should “look hard” at his posts to figure out whether he is “just trolling or if age has finally robbed” him of his faculties.
He further stated that if it is neither of those, then he is definitely using his claim about being Satoshi as a duress code. Although he didn’t outrightly deny it, Snowden’s statement suggests that he is likely not the Bitcoin founder. An X (formerly Twitter) user had raised the possibility of that being the case after Snowden put out an X post about Bitcoin.
In the post, Snowden praised Bitcoin as the “most significant monetary advance since the creation of coinage.” The former NSA contractor also looks to be very much invested in the flagship crypto token. He revealed during the Super Bowl how he was busy watching the BTC chart while others were focused on the footballing event.
The whistleblower has also been pretty outspoken about BTC in the past, commenting when the Spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved and even once drawing a similarity between Gold and the crypto token.
Meanwhile, Snowden happens to be a computer scientist. As such, it is not surprising why one might speculate that Snowden has ties to BTC’s creation or is even Satoshi. Interestingly, although he might not have created BTC, Snowden was actively involved in the creation of the privacy coin Zcash.
The ‘Real’ Satoshi Currently Standing Trial
Self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) to prove his assertions that he is indeed Satoshi. The court hearing, which began on January 15, has already seen a lot of back-and-forth arguments from both parties.
On February 19, Stefan Matthews, the co-founder of nChain (where Wright worked), took the stand and testified in favour of Wright, claiming that he didn’t think that the computer scientist was lying about being Satoshi. Matthews’ statement was very important because he had previously made a damning statement which raised questions of whether Wright was lying.
Wright has, for the longest time, claimed that he is the “Creator of Bitcoin.” Interestingly, he once called Snowden a “traitorous scum” when the former NSA contractor, during last year’s Bitcoin whitepaper anniversary, highlighted how Satoshi has managed to remain anonymous. Wright also corrected Snowden by stating that he “was never anonymous.”
