A private investigator argues the only plausible explanation for a $50 billion fortune untouched for fifteen years is that its owners are dead. The investigation, detailed on Bankless by author Bill Cohan and investigator Tyler Maroney, identifies a partnership between cryptographers Hal Finney and Len Sassaman as Bitcoin's creators.
According to testimony from the widows Fran Finney and Meredith Patterson, Finney was the C++ expert who engineered Bitcoin. Colleagues, including Bram Cohen, said Finney lacked the specific academic writing style of the Bitcoin white paper. The investigation concludes Sassaman - known for using pseudonyms as political art - authored the document and managed early communications.
"The partnership filled the gaps in each other’s skill sets."
- Tyler Maroney, Bankless
Bitcoin emerged from the 2008 crisis as a direct challenge to central banks. Cohan notes the irony: the institutions Satoshi sought to bypass now dominate the asset. JPMorgan Chase recently posted a $16 billion quarterly profit, partly fueled by Bitcoin's adoption as a high-yield asset class. The revolutionary tool meant to humble Wall Street now pads its balance sheets.
Maroney traces the creators' anonymity to a defensive tradition within the Cypherpunk movement, citing Phil Zimmerman's prosecution for creating encryption 'weapons.' Using a pseudonym was standard procedure to allow technology to mature before state targeting. By the time Bitcoin gained significant value around 2011, Finney was facing a terminal illness and Sassaman personal crises, leading to permanent silence.
"Using a pseudonym like Satoshi Nakamoto was a standard operating procedure for developers who had seen the state attempt to imprison coders."
- Tyler Maroney, Bankless
Finney's body was cryopreserved at Alcor in Scottsdale, Arizona, leaving a sci-fi hypothesis that he could one day return to access a seed phrase. The investigation's conclusion removes a single point of failure - a 'Messiah' who could be coerced - while cementing the myth of Satoshi.
