'I got nothing to do with it': Bitcoin ‘creator’ denies links
Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto has denied being the creator of bitcoin, a cryptocurrency he claims not to have even heard of until his son was contacted by a Newsweek reporter 3 weeks earlier.
Newsweek magazine published an article which exposed "Nakamoto", a resident of Temple City, California, as "The Face Behind Bitcoin".
However, 64-year old Nakamoto denies the report, and says the reporter misunderstood his comments, which were in English, not his native Japanese.
"It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I'm not involved now. That's not what I meant. I want to clarify that," Nakamoto told AP in an exclusive 2-hr interview.
Throughout the interview, Nakamoto mispronounced the word bitcoin, sometimes calling it "bitcom".
Leah McGrath Goodman, who filed the report, sticks by her story that Nakamoto is behind the successful virtual currency.
"I stand completely by my exchange with Mr. Nakamoto. There was no confusion whatsoever about the context of our conversation —and his acknowledgment of his involvement in bitcoin,” Goldman told AP.
The misconstrued comment was given by Nakamoto to the reporter in front of two police officers.
“I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it” he said. He told the AP he was referencing a confidentiality agreement with a previous employer, and that the comment was taken out of context.
Goodman says that Nakamoto has not used his birth name, instead keeping a low profile under the pseudonym Dorian S. Nakamoto.
Nakamoto is from Beppu, Japan, and arrived to the US when he was 10 years old.
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym of a person or a group of people behind the controversial online currency that gives users anonymity in their purchases.
This webpage shows the shadowy identity of "Nakamoto".
Banned by central banks worldwide as an "illegitimate" form of tender, speculation in bitcoin has developed into a multi-million dollar industry, where users mine and trade the digital coins. Prices per unit rose above $1000 in November but recently fell to $637.
