A recent development in the cryptocurrency world has generated considerable interest: Billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel has hinted that he may have met the person or group behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin.
Thiel claims that this encounter happened 23 years ago at a financial cryptography conference in Anguilla.
The revelation comes as Thiel’s aide, Balaji Srinivasan, speculates that bitcoin could attain a value of $1 million.
Given Thiel’s connections at the time, which included Elon Musk, the PayPal mafia, e-gold founder, Srinivasan, and Vitalik Buterin, the founder of the first Bitcoin magazine, it is plausible that Thiel crossed paths with Satoshi. However, the extent of their connection remains uncertain.
Thiel’s possible link to Satoshi discovered
thiel Memory“I met him on the beach in Anguilla in February 2000. We were starting a revolution against central banks… We intended to make PayPal compatible with e-gold and overthrow all central banks. “
E-gold came to an end in 2007 when the US Department of Justice shut down the project and arrested its founders for unregistered money transmission. The fallout from and seizure of e-gold continued for the next seven years.
The Financial Cryptography Conference, a longstanding gathering for cyberpunks, could have provided abundant inspiration for Nakamoto’s bitcoin vision. Researchers at the conference presented papers such as “Electronic Cash – Technology Will Denationalize Money” and “Efficient Electronic Cash with Restricted Privacy”.
Thiel believes that Satoshi may have gained insights from e-cash, such as bypassing formal organizational structures and adopting MIT’s open source license for bitcoin.
paypal mafia close to the source
thiel Was a member of the ‘PayPal Mafia’ formed in the early 2000s, consisting of fintech start-up entrepreneurs who amassed significant wealth through dot-com startups and IPOs.
Prominent individuals included Elon Musk, founder of X.com and early supporter of bitcoin and dogecoin, and Balaji SrinivasanFormer Coinbase CTO and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Srinivasan has recently attracted attention Betting That Bitcoin Will Hit $1 Million Due to possible US hyperinflation, although some say it may be a publicity stunt.
Srinivasan and Thiel, longtime friends, share a mutual disdain for the American banking system and an interest in seasteading. Both argue that bitcoin needs a sovereign nation to avoid regulation.
Thiel’s Founders Fund cleverly moved billions of dollars out of SVB just days before his catastrophic bank run in an effort to stave off the crisis.
While some dismiss Thiel’s claim, others highlight reports of him selling his bitcoin holdings. Despite his current involvement in cryptocurrency, Thiel played a role in the early financial cryptography community and continues to criticize banks.
At the 2022 Bitcoin Miami conference, Thiel publicly demonstrated his distrust of the US dollar by tearing up $100 bills, placating the banking system.