Calif. man denies he’s Bitcoin inventor

The man Newsweek suggests is the founder of Bitcoin denied he had anything to do with the digital currency, blaming miscommunication between himself and the reporter who showed up on his doorstep.

In an exclusive two-hour interview with The Associated Press, Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, 64, said he had never heard of Bitcoin until his son told him he had been contacted by a Newsweek reporter three weeks ago.

Nakamoto acknowledged that many of the details in Newsweek's report are correct, including that he once worked for a defense contractor, and that his given name at birth was Satoshi.

But he strongly disputed the magazine's assertion that he is "the face behind Bitcoin."

"I got nothing to do with it," he said, repeatedly.

Newsweek stands by its story.

Thursday’s revelation met with outrage from many members of the Bitcoin community, who saw the story as a unnecessary, even dangerous, invasion of the man’s privacy.

Whoever the currency’s creator is, many in the Bitcoin community believe the creator controls a massive sum of the currency. The Newsweek story puts that figure around $400 million.

Bitcoin enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens took to Twitter and online forums Thursday to register their shock after the magazine published the article. Some said that the author had put Nakamoto’s life at risk by publishing photos of his house and car, and even the purported creator himself.

Some posts directly attacked the writer of the Newsweek story, Leah McGrath Goodman.

"Dreadfully irresponsible article by @truth_eater in @Newsweek. Posting a photo of the house somebody named Nakamoto lives in? Shame," wrote Twitter user @securityninja.

Goodman managed to get in touch with Nakamoto, according to the article, with the help of private investigators and coaxing his email address from a company from which he buys model trains.

She then emailed Nakamoto, first talking about trains, and then mentioning bitcoin. That’s when Goodman says the California man stopped replying. She then spoke to his family members.

“You're not going to be able to get to him. He'll deny everything. He'll never admit to starting Bitcoin," Arthur Nakamoto, Satoshi's brother, told Goodman.

Gavin Andersen, a bitcoin developer who corresponded by e-mail with Satoshi during the currency’s early days and helped edit its code, was quoted extensively in the Newsweek story. On Thursday, he said he wished he hadn’t spoken to Goodman.

“I'm disappointed Newsweek decided to dox the Nakamoto family, and regret talking to Leah.”

“Dox” is Internet slang for posting an individual’s personal details, such as address and phone number, online, often with malicious intent.

On Thursday night, the plot thickened as someone posted a message using the handle Satoshi Nakamoto on the online forum where the mysterious developer originally submitted plans for the currency.

“I am not Dorian Nakamoto,” the person wrote, but some observers remain skeptical of the post’s authenticity, suspecting a hack or deliberate evasion.

Since bitcoin's birth in 2009, the currency's creator has remained a mystery. The person — or people — behind its founding have been known only as "Satoshi Nakamoto," which many observers believed to be a pseudonym.

After the publication of the story, the real-life Nakamoto said his home was bombarded by phone calls.

By midmorning, a dozen reporters were waiting outside the modest two-story home on the residential street in Temple City, Calif., where he lives. He emerged shortly after noon saying he wanted to speak with one reporter only and asked for a "free lunch."

Nakamoto spoke to AP at length about his life, career and family, addressing many of the assertions in Newsweek's 4,500-word piece.

He also said a key portion of the piece — where he is quoted telling the reporter on his doorstep before two police officers, "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it" — was misunderstood.

A native of Beppu, Japan, Nakamoto came to the U.S. when he was 10 and speaks both English and Japanese, but his English isn't flawless. Asked if he said the quote, Nakamoto responded, "no."

"I'm saying I'm no longer in engineering. That's it," he said of the exchange.

"And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that's what I implied."

"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," he said.

Goodman, who spent two months researching the story, told the AP: "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."

Bitcoin has become popular among tech enthusiasts, libertarians and risk-seeking investors because it allows people to make one-to-one transactions, buy goods and services and exchange money across borders without involving banks, credit card issuers or other third parties. Those trying to skirt the law like bitcoin for the same reasons.

For various technical reasons, it's hard to know just how many people worldwide own bitcoins, but the currency attracted outsize media attention and the fascination of millions as an increasing number of large retailers such as Overstock.com began to accept it.

Fans see Bitcoin as a digital-world currency beyond the government interference, while critics, whose ranks swelled with the recent close of major bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, see a risky investment whose anonymity aids drug dealers and other criminals.

Nakamoto kept a low profile in part to avoid attention of authorities, Newsweek said, and indeed on Thursday the office of Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York's Department of Financial Services, was keen on speaking with him, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Bitcoin is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Its value soared last year, and the total worth of bitcoins minted is now about $7 billion.

Speculative investors have jumped into the bitcoin fray, too, sending the currency's value fluctuating wildly in recent months.

In December the value of a single bitcoin hit an all-time high of $1,200. It was approximately $665 on Thursday, according to the website BitCoinCharts.com, about the same as it was before the article’s publication.

Al Jazeera and wire services