- Changpeng Zhao suggested Satoshi Nakamoto could be an AI entity sent from the future.
- Zhao confirmed he has no direct knowledge of Satoshi’s identity or communication history.
- The mystery of Bitcoin’s creator persists despite new theories and renewed public interest.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao raised a new theory regarding the mysterious creator of Bitcoin during a recent interview with Turkish social media influencers. Zhao suggested that Satoshi Nakamoto, the figure credited with inventing Bitcoin, might not be human but a form of artificial intelligence sent from the future. His remarks have fueled further speculation around one of the crypto industry’s most enduring questions.
At some point, Zhao discussed how Bitcoin was created and its creator, Satoshi, who has not been seen publicly for years. He proposed that a time-traveling software might have generated Bitcoin.
“It may be software traveling through time… It would be virtually impossible to implement such a program in the modern healthcare industry now, but there was a time when it could be a reality,” said Zhao.
As he mentioned, it remains a speculation, but he said it falls among some of the outlandish theories concerning the identity of the Bitcoin creator.
Zhao’s claims also describe a situation in which there is no verifiable information on who or what Satoshi Nakamoto is. He claimed he had never met Satoshi and did not know his real identity. Zhao also revealed that while some of the people who participated in the early days of Bitcoin might have had conversations with Satoshi, he was not someone in that category.
Challenges in Maintaining Anonymity
Zhao explained the additional efforts that Satoshi must have exercised to avoid being identifiable. He also noted that erasing one’s tracks while engaged in online activities is extremely challenging, even for an individual, to cover the tracks completely and leave no trace of an IP address.
He noted that it would have been harder to keep its use under wraps if a group had developed Bitcoin. Zhao also noted that such an extent of camouflage has been done, leaving much room for theories with abnormal hypotheses, such as the artificial intelligence hypothesis.
Notable Figures Linked to Satoshi
Many people over the years have been said to be associated with the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym. In the interview, Zhao mentioned several of them, including the late cypherpunk Hal Finney, American computer scientist Nick Szabo, and the late information privacy advocate Len Sassaman. Blockstream CEO Adam Back is frequently cited in talks about possible rivals.
This mystery continued in October 2024 with the airing of an HBO documentary called Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery. Some people said the documentary was among a group that implicated Canadian cryptographer and developer Peter Todd as the iconic Satoshi Nakamoto. However, Todd later dismissed the accusations through the media and, based on threats to his life, was forced to go underground.
Enduring Mystery Around Satoshi’s Identity
However, Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity has not changed since he left the public scene in 2010. Zhao argues that an AI entity could be the author. In the interview, he stressed that all options must be considered due to the lengths taken to preserve their anonymity.
Zhao also added that other options were considered, and one proposed is that Satoshi be software for the future. He admitted that such a situation could hardly be envisaged now, but it can still occur. However, by elaborating on these theories, Zhao affirms that he does not know Satoshi’s true identity.
The question of who is behind the creation of Bitcoin remains a subject of debate in the crypto space. As Zhao’s words show, the future belongs to guessing. Since the persona of Satoshi Nakamoto remains a secret, more hypotheses will be generated, some realistic and others fantastic.
