Since the creation of Bitcoin, the question of the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has become an almost mythological mystery for the crypto sphere. In a long investigation published on April 8, 2026, LeÂNew York Times returns to this enigma, this time pointing directly at a face known to the community: Adam Back, British cryptographer, inventor of Hashcash and founder of Blockstream.
L’enquête duÂNew York Times brought together all the ingredients to have a global echo.
She tackles a mythical enigma, taken head-on by one of the most recognized investigative journalists on the planet, notably for having revealed the Theranos scandal.
John Carreyrou explains that he began this investigation after seeing Adam Back’s defensive reaction to an HBO series attempting to trace Satoshi Nakamoto.
This reaction, considered almost disproportionate, would have served as a starting point for careful research into the identity of the creator of Bitcoin.
Who is Adam Back, the target of the investigation?
Instead of exploring several avenues, the investigation takes another approach. It details all the elements that could make Adam Black the founder of Bitcoin.
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This cryptographer from the cypherpunk scene, active since the 1990s, is best known for having invented Hashcash in 1997, a mechanism initially designed to limit spam in emails by imposing a cryptographic calculation on senders.
This system is today recognized as one of the founding bricks of Bitcoin, since Nakamoto’s white paper explicitly cites Hashcash as inspiring the mining of the cryptocurrency.
Back later founded Blockstream, a company focused on Bitcoin and blockchain technology, and is often presented as a major intellectual figure in the network, although, until now, he has never claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. On paper, it’s a credible profile, but not necessarily incriminating… except for Carreyrou.
Investigation methods: emails, word slices and AI
The investigation is based on emails and public archives, notably part of Satoshi’s correspondence with Martti Malmi, a Finnish programmer close to the project from its beginnings, exhumed during a trial against an imposter. These exchanges show how Adam Back interacted with the creator of Bitcoin in the early days, before the project became public.
Beyond the testimonies, John Carreyrou is interested in Satoshi’s little writing habits. To do this, he uses the style guide of theNew York Times as a reference for how hyphens should (or should not) be put in English. It then integrates these rules into an artificial intelligence model, which learns to distinguish “good” and “bad” hyphenation.
This model then analyzes all of Satoshi’s texts and identifies 325 repeated errors on the hyphens, i.e. a real typographical data sheet. When comparing these errors to the writings of hundreds of suspects, Adam Back shares 67 exactly the same, compared to only 38 for the next closest.
Then crossing other tics, two spaces between sentences, British spelling, confusion betweenit’sanditsle mot also at the end of a sentence, or even the way of treating terms likebug correction, midway ou double spendBack ends up being the only one to reproduce all of these particularities.
A « lapse »… but the absence of definitive proof
Another element supporting the lead: an interview in Salvador where John Carreyrou was able to question Adam Back about a quote from Satoshi:“I’m better with code than words.» Le cryptographe répond alors : « However, I chatted a lot about these lists “, a sentence which, for the investigator, resembles a slip of the tongue pointing to Satoshi’s past, as if Back were talking about himself…
Of course, Back does not concede anything and claims that he is not the creator of Bitcoin. As our colleagues atFrandroidsuch an admission would be almost impossible as the stakes are colossal: Satoshi would hold around 1.1 million bitcoins, or around $118 billion at the current valuation. If Back admitted to being Satoshi, he would become an immediate financial, political and media target.
Finally, on the business side, he runs Blockstream, a company largely financed by Wall Street and institutional investors, which demands transparency and governance. A portfolio of this size would remain difficult to hide without risk for its partners.
Concretely, the paper dueNew York Times is less akin to a formal attribution than to the inventory of a particularly solid lead. Without movement of funds since the very first block mined, absolute proof is still lacking. But, for the first time, Adam Back appears as the most coherent candidate in the long list of contenders for the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.
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