It’s official: Craig Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto. In Bogota, at least. He even allowed his Colombian hosts at the Expo-Bitcoin International conference this weekend to introduce him as Satoshi, the enigmatic inventor of Bitcoin. 

Indeed, the Council of Bogota – the city’s highest political authority – presented Wright with a document, thanking him for his services to cyber security and information technology, that certified his “Satoshi Nakamoto” alias.

The presentation of the document and a close up of the document itself were captured on camera by Jimmy Nguyen, CEO nChain Group and a global ambassador for the Wright-backed BitcoinSV, who attended the conference with Wright and put the pics up on Twitter.

While the responding Twitterati had much fun with Nguyen’s post, we at CryptoGlobe remain cautious of overstating the sanctimony.

Buterin Speaks Out

At a conference in Seoul last year Wright was challenged with the question: “Why is this fraud allowed to speak at this conference?”

The agent provocateur was Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-creators of a chief rival of Bitcoin. And while no-one doubts Buterin’s role as an inventor of Ether and the Ethereum network, many have alleged Wright’s claim to be Satoshi as spurious.

Almost a year after Buterin’s outburst in Seoul, he was presented with a legal notice informing him that Wright intended to sue through the UK courts for defamation. 

In April, Wright also served a £100,000 suit for damages against Peter McCormack – a podcaster who called Wright a fraud for falsely claiming to be Satoshi.

Satoshi Unmasked?

Some high profile players in the crypto and IT businesses claim to know the true identity of Satoshi, however, and could – presumably – leave Wright’s lawsuit claims in tatters.

Back in April, outspoken malware protection provider John McAfee claimed to be so annoyed by the “imposters” claiming to be Satoshi, that he would “reveal” him.

He said: “Every day I will narrow down the identity of Satoshi until he reveals himself, or I reveal him.”

Yet McAfee has a reputation as charismatic and extrovert as that of Wright’s and followers and trolls on Twitter and other social media are to both men sanctimonious and scathing in equal measure.

Secret Billionaire

If Wright isn’t Satoshi, and McAfee is calling our bluff we may never find out who the real Satoshi is. 

While it is estimated that the real Satoshi must have at least $9 billion in wealth from Bitcoin alone, in a world with an estimated 2,200 billionaires, it isn’t always that easy to stand out unless you’re one of the Bezoses or Gates of the rich list.

Indeed, Satoshi’s fortune is modest by comparison and easier to conceal if his true identity is that of a modest person who doesn’t want to stand out.