The Genesis Block
Below I’ve summarized my various tweets that reviewed and excerpted an advance copy of The Genesis Block, by Satoshi Nakamoto.
While the author is arrogant in some places (arguably they are justified), they are also human and vulnerable in others.
Some sections were clearly written before others, and many sections would have benefitted by better editing. However, there are a number of well respected og #bitcoin #Crypto folk who are named in these pages. @gavinandresen @marttimalmi @theymos.
Toward the issue of identity, the author does acknowledge that they left the system in the care of others with the idea that at TCP relay would “announce” Satoshi’s return all. But the TCP relay was disabled in Satoshi’s absence.
Satoshi reports that a number of identifying markers are embedded in the genesis block. They reference dob, ssn, and the number of their street address. I’m working with a colleague to confirm, Jason Coombs, CEO
Also, they describe cat and mouse with Gavin Andresen, extortion by Dave Kleinman, and an imposter. To be honest, I had a bit of trouble following who is whom in this section. Certainly there could be a link to conflict between Kleinman + Craig, who has claimed to be Satoshi.
Ch. 7 discuss applications of blockchain such as charity, disaster relieve settings, power grid, access to capital, ways to employ mining rigs in environmentally friendly ways. There is an Easter Egg here about Satoshi’s identity.
However, imo, the real teaser is UBI — Universal Basic Income (!)
Satoshi says they’lll never “sell” coins but they also say they could send satoshi’s to every wallet user in world and that when they emerge they will “show the world the next part of our vision, which empowers all the users with a global ROI system.” Given then Satoshi Hoard, the built in appreciation in bitcoin value via corollary with mining, if there were global adoption of bitcoin, this could be viable.
Universal Basic Income = Universal Bitcoin Income?
Satoshi also plants an identity secret in saying that they worked as a VC, passed theSeries 7 and 24, and that this was instrumental in constructing Bitcoin in the context of the SEC.
Interestingly, another surreal, identity easter egg (or red herring), Satoshi reports that they did something with marketing liquor with @NickStormCiroc who now works with @Diddy.
Aha! In Ch. 11, The Disappearing Act, we find intrigue. Here is the story of Dave Kleiman discovering Satoshi’s identity and blackmailing Satoshi for 200k bitcoin to keep it secret. There is also some mention of a mysterious file that opens in 2020. But idk what that is.
They reference a link about bitcoin origins. There is a typo in the book. This appears to be right link: http://vu.hn/bitcoin%20origins.html
So far the book has only alluded to an imposter or mentioned Kleiman’s associates, but not by name. In this image it does appear to name @ProfFaustus , though it also seems the author intentionally did not explicitly name Craig in their own text. Idk. https://gizmodo.com/this-australian-says-he-and-his-dead-friend-invented-bi-1746958692
(This must have been the thread that got me blocked by Craig. He could have responded but didn’t. The fact that he hasn’t replied to any of the book excerpts only strengthens my belief that he’s fraudulently claiming to be Satoshi.)
The chapter also speaks of guns, murder, the CIA, and references @gavinandresen but I still am unclear what Gavin’s full role was. Maybe that’s intentional.
So far there are interesting anecdotes, alleged pieces of evidence, but there is nothing that rises to the level of bitcoin “proof of…” That said, the author remains the most likely Satoshi I’ve read to date.
Satoshi discusses voting via bitcoin or blockchain. They described the need to prevent voter fraud by providing a refractory period for re-use of coins / tokens. This idea has been discussed and rebutted in various places online. In other sections author said they are from Brooklyn but the nod to voting rights furthers my belief that Satoshi from USA.
Ch.12.Adoption. This Ch. acknowledges an initial use of Bitcoin (@wikileaks) and also speaks to the role of Bitcoin in underdeveloped areas and for the unbanked. There are use case examples and also discussion of whether bitcoin mining can be essentially carbon neutral or not.
I’ve seen discussions about bitcoin mining, energy use, carbon footprint, etc. I’m not yet convinced of either argument though I agree that there could be reduction of energy costs from other systems that Bitcoin might supplant. Heating a house through bitcoin mining? idk…
Ch. 13. Solving Puzzles, wherein we find more Easter Eggs and are again reminded that @halfinney was the first follower. There is a nod to @NickSzabo and bitgold. The author notes that spiritual and symbolic inspirations were also embedded in Bitcoin (see image).
Ch.14. Impact of Social Media on Bitcoin. This chapter discusses more than just social media. On this page the author presents a summary of some of the qualities of Bitcoin, realizing that they merged financial paradigms.
Also, on another page, the author recognizes the role of @coinbase, providing an entry / exit for fiat, though they state coinbase didn’t even give them a callback when they applied for a job. (#diversity, #agediscrimination)
The author teases potential congressional testimony, which raises the issue of various risks (personal, regulatory, etc.) of identification and, finally, in the same ch., there is also a shout out to @kanye and that just makes the whole world so strange + awesome.
Ch. 13. Solving Puzzles, wherein we find more Easter Eggs and are again reminded that @halfinney was the first follower. There is a nod to @NickSzabo and bitgold. The author notes that spiritual and symbolic inspirations were also embedded in Bitcoin (see image).
Ch.15. Guess Who’s Back. Here the Author describes some of the mathematical bases and fortunate circumstances that occurred with Bitcoin quantity and subdivisions. Vitalik Buterin is cited in these sectoions. (https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/satoshis-genius-unexpected-ways-in-which-bitcoin-dodged-some-cryptographic-bullet-1382996984/)
The author says that, at the time of their departure, they divided the Bitcoin elements and left them with different people. @theymos got http://bitcointalk.com , @marttimalmi got bitcoinorg, and @gavinandresen got sourceforge access to for upgrades. And then Satoshi left.
The author states that when they came back to Bitcoin they contacted Gavin, Theymos, and Martti Malmi, but none of them replied. The author drops an Easter Egg here when speculating on why Gavin didn’t respond: “…he didn’t think Satoshi was a black person.” I don’t know of any evidence to support this assertion, but is it interesting that the three people Satoshi left in charge of the Bitcoin system have, allegedly, not responded to the outreach.
The Author drops Easter Eggs throughout the book and they are more and more specific. I’ve tried to follow a few of them but haven’t hit pay dirt yet. At the end of my reviews, if I haven’t come up with a guess for who Satoshi is, I’ll try to summarize the Easter Eggs.
Throughout out the book there are biblical references. The author notes that, but for intervention or circumstance, they would have been in World Financial Center I on 9/11, and they elaborate, below, on the biblical reference.
I also wonder if this supports the idea of Universal Basic Income=Universal Bitcoin Income b/c the author concludes by saying they “…kept (their) coins and made a difference with it in the forever mincome funds.” (Mincome was an experimental Canadian guaranteed income project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome.)
Interjected in the middle of the chapter is a comment about the @lightning network. The author acknowledges the need for a small transactions system, but calls out lightning network for being another vulnerable point of attack, without being an ideal solution.
Ch. 16, the author presents a number of emails that they report sending to the original guard of Bitcoin — @gavinandresen @theymos @marttimalmi . An email from Wei Dai was included for reference but is isn’t clear that Wei was emailed.
I still @ to the above b/c they haven’t blocked me yet (Craigtoshi did) so I’m assuming that they are interested to see what’s in the book and maybe they haven’t yet received a copy, but aren’t interested in reply, idk.
I believe this is the first message back to Gavin but I idk. I’m not sure that this was by email or not. The emails were not in chronological order but I’m posting them in order of how they were published in the book.
To my knowledge, none of the original bitcoin generals (Gavin, Theymos, Martti) as the authors calls them, have replied to the author in a meaningful way.
At the same time, it is not clear to me that the author presented absolute proof to them — absolute proof that would rise to the level of what the original cryptographers would accept.
It appears that @jimmysong was cc on one or more emails — he’s named in one and “other team members” and “witnesses” are cited on cc or bcc. Jimmy may have commented on this elsewhere but I’m not aware of it, idk.
To me info in the book is the most compelling evidence yet that this author is Satoshi. However, their “real”identity is still unclear. I do think that the absence of comment from the generals is conspicuous and may support the argument that this is Satoshi.
The author notes that The Genesis Block isn’t meant to be a treatise on the construction and development of the code behind Bitcoin, but rather a story about the creation of Bitcoin. To the extent that this version is true, the author fulfills the goal. It is an accessible story and an interesting read. The secrets and intrigues of early days, infighting, hopes and aspiration are detailed and the (oxymoron alert) lay-crytpo-enthusiast should find it interesting. While I’m not yet through reading, so far it doesn’t, however, reveal and prove the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. If this author were to reveal themselves I do believe this book and the evidence cited on http://vu.hn/bitcoin%20origins.html would provide sufficient corroborating evidence for the majority of people. For those expecting Satoshi to move their original coins, I’m not sure that anything short of moving the orginal coins will be sufficient “Proof of Satoshi.”
I am looking forward to a potential article in WSJ, as is suggested by this, from p485: “I want to thank @paulvigna — wsj personally for being there when I needed him — I promised him the story because he treated me like a person. That’s all I ever asked for.”
My review of the book is not yet complete. As I post threads on twitter I will update and edit this post for content. If you notice typos or broken links pls let me know and I’ll try to fix.
Update 12/20018: I’ve been trying to tack down the easter eggs that suggest Satoshi’s identity. So far no luck, which does raise some questions in my mind. The final chapters of the book also have some odd statements such as the author stating they “forgot” they created bitcoin, which I can only take as a metaphorical “forgot,” or else this is even more peculiar.
Update 4/2019: I tried to validate the identity Easter Eggs that the author left — I tried cross-referencing SEC licenses and purported initials and dob that is alleged to be hidden in the genesis block; I tried contacting the reported alma mater given the reported area of study; I tried looking in the sales records for his mother’s house. I didn’t get anywhere with validating an identity or supporting any of the proposed easter eggs. The later chapters veer off a bit toward oddity and don’t seem to support the author as being Satoshi and I didn’t post a summary of them. I did reach out to a respected member of the crypto community and that person said they were aware of this author’s claims but that they didn’t put any faith in them. I would say that for extraordinary claims it requires extraordinary evidence and while it was an interesting read, we are still awaiting proof of Satoshi.
