Column
【Satoshi Nakamoto】Reasons for Satoshi Nakamoto's Anonymity
Summary: 2. Reasons for Satoshi Nakamoto's Anonymity Catalog 2.1 Privacy protection without financial disclosure 2.2 Avoid legal liability 2.3 The key factor affecting the rise of Bitcoin is not anonymity Anonymity is difficult for people outside of the crypto circle to adapt to. So when it comes to Bitcoin, this is the first question, why anonymity? ...
2. Reasons for Satoshi Nakamoto's Anonymity
Catalog
2.1 Privacy protection without financial disclosure
2.2 Avoid legal liability
2.3 The key factor affecting the rise of Bitcoin is not anonymity
Anonymity is difficult for people outside of the crypto circle to adapt to. So when it comes to Bitcoin, this is the first question, why anonymity?
2.1 Privacy protection without financial disclosure
Satoshi Nakamoto is anonymous, which is the accepted view of the market. But there are many explanations for why anonymity. For example, some people say that cypherpunks think anonymity is cool, and others say it is the privacy protection habits of cypherpunks or avoid patent liability.
There is a bit of truth to the patent reasons as well. But as an open source movement, what is not open source is not adopted, and there are standards for open source, at least stating compliance with MIT's copyright standards, thus ensuring casual use by third parties. Bitcoin states compliance with this standard. Patents are a factor, and we haven't seen any blockchain technology patent lawsuits. Reputation lawsuits are also tricky. How do you fight anonymously? Who do you sue? Which is one use of anonymity.
Anonymity for privacy protection is the claim of cypherpunks, a class of people who are hackers, in whose eyes the Internet is naked. The best way not to reveal their identity is to be anonymous. They need an anonymous environment with their currency, where no one can control anyone, a paradise away from the world. There is no problem if you don't connect to the outside world, but by clicking to the outside world, you also leave a trail. In the blockchain, coin theft often happens, but how to spend the stolen coins is always challenging. The account books are public, every step can be tracked, and once transferred to fiat channels to withdraw cash, immediately expose the real name. It's easy to catch. For example, the coins of Satoshi Nakamoto are closely monitored, and he has a life to earn but no life to spend. Because as soon as he finishes it, he is exposed. Unless it comes to bitcoin standards, you can use it directly without having to be converted into a fiat currency.
In the real world, There is no Xanadu, and there is significant boundedness to anonymity; this prevents blockchain from ever being able to connect smoothly with the real world. Privacy is graded, and different people also have various requirements for privacy. Protection is rough if anonymity cannot achieve hierarchical control of privacy.
The most extensive use of anonymity is to prevent online tracking. Satoshi Nakamoto uses anonymity to the extreme. What's the point of that? As long as you leave a trace, it equally collapses at the first blow in front of the master. It depends on whether it is necessary. Because by logical analysis, there is no need for online tracing.
We have seen many cypherpunks communicate with others using their real names, and it is sporadic to be as anonymous as Satoshi Nakamoto without any trace. Satoshi Nakamoto requires PGP encryption software to communicate with people, uses an onion router (Tor) to access the Internet, and changes time zones from time to time. The following snapshot records the earliest block data of bitcoin, with no time zone; how to prove that Satoshi Nakamoto is in the U.K.? (1) With all the protections Satoshi Nakamoto has designed, it is almost impossible for outsiders to find him through online traces. In addition, Satoshi Nakamoto's conscious change of speech wording to sell down the cracks to researchers, we are not the historical parties, and it is challenging to restore the truth afterward. Everyone has tried a single research tool is not enough to find out Satoshi Nakamoto because your opponent is a master. Is the really no trace? The only way to find Satoshi Nakamoto is to rely on the chain of evidence, depending on whether you have a way to perfect the chain of evidence. The standard methods are not going to find Satoshi Nakamoto. The wiretaps are useless, and the advanced instruments for finding physical traces are useless. The search for data evidence requires a high level of computer knowledge and logical deduction, which is a comprehensive research ability, that is, a scholar's ability.
For a cypherpunk like Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is designed to protect privacy perfectly; for example, the whole world is looking for Satoshi Nakamoto but cannot find him. However, suppose an ordinary user uses the Bitcoin system to transfer money; in that case, it is similar to running naked. Usually without hiding the IP, and the process of using it can easily be associated with the user's true identity. As a result, the Ethereum general ledger uses the account model, reducing the difficulty of use for both ecological developers and users and reducing the strength of privacy protection. Although Ethereum has reduced privacy protection also did not see ordinary users complain. Average users don't feel it; only geeks do.
Having the level of privacy protection of Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin ledger can't reveal the number of coins of the holder. However, the Bitcoin ledger is public, and if there is no anonymity, it is clear at a glance who has how much money. If this is the case, it differs from human beings' habit of not revealing their wealth. But, of course, in some cases, you need to prove how much money you have, and the right to disclose the bitcoin ledger rests with the holder. Therefore, anonymous design is the requirement of the public ledger. And After 13 years, Satoshi Nakamoto has yet to find anyone. Another of the most significant benefits of anonymity is avoiding legal liability.
2.2 Avoid legal liability
Satoshi Nakamoto does not leave traces, anonymity, or stealth so far; what he is worried about? he is concerned only one main reason: the fear of breaking the law.
By remaining anonymous, he avoided adverse legal consequences. There is also consensus in the cypherpunk community on this influences Satoshi Nakamoto. The first discussion of cypherpunk in the popular press was in a 1993 Wired magazine article titled "Crypto Rebels." The article wrote: "The obstacles are political - some of the most powerful forces in government are committed to controlling these tools (note: cryptographic algorithms and tools). In short, there is a war going on between those who liberate cryptocurrencies and those who suppress them. The seemingly innocuous group of people around this room represent the vanguard of pro-crypto forces. While the battlefield may seem distant, the stakes are not: the outcome of this fight could determine how much freedom our society will grant us in the 21st century. For cypherpunks, freedom is a question worth taking a chance on." (2) In the day, cryptography was banned as an arms export. Phil Zimmermann, whose PGP encryption was listed. Phil printed the PGP source code as a book for export and used it to defy the export ban. The reason was that freedom of speech is protected in the United States, and printing it as a book would fall under the scope of freedom of speech. He was later sued by the U.S. government authorities and lost the case on the government side. The struggle between cypherpunks and the government has never stopped. Their efforts are not meaningless, and privacy protection has become a consensus in Western countries. Thanks to their selfless actions. It is hard for us to understand their fear of persecution. In fact, the Bitcoin system is also walking in such a gray area.
"Lewis Solomon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University Law School, who has written about alternative currencies, argues that the creation of bitcoin may be legal. He says, 'Bitcoin is in a gray area, in part because we don't know if it should be considered a currency, a commodity like gold, or maybe even a security.' However, the gray area is dangerous, which may be why Satoshi Nakamoto built Bitcoin in secret. It could also explain why he built the system using the same peer-to-peer technology as pirated movies and music downloads, so that users are connected to each other and not to a central server. No company is in control, no office to raid, and no one to arrest." (3)
Satoshi Nakamoto said on November 6, 2008, "The government is good at cutting off centrally controlled networks like Napster (the music free download tool was shut down), but pure peer-to-peer networks like Gnutella (a file-sharing network) and Tor (The Onion Router) seem to be holding up." (4) You can see that the cypherpunk community heavily influences Satoshi Nakamoto and that Gnutella and Tor are both anonymity tools. Anonymity is their weapon. He also said, "We can win a big war in the arms race and get a new land of freedom in a few years." (4) He doesn't think the government can shut down Bitcoin, at least not for a few years, as long as anonymity is done well and people can't be caught.
If anonymity is not done well, the consequences will be severe.
In 1998, Hawaii resident Bernard NotHaus got involved in an emerging form of money called the "Liberty Dollar" with disastrous results: he was charged with violating federal law and sentenced to six months of house arrest and three years of probation. (5)
Electronic Gold e-Gold was the first digital currency; the system launched online in 1996 and, at its peak in 2006, was processing over $2 billion in transactions per year. However, E-Gold was halted by 2011 after a government controversy over money laundering in 2007.
E-Gold was an early pioneer in Internet payments. The company was the first successful online payment system. In addition, it pioneered many e-commerce systems and technologies, including making payments over SSL-encrypted connections and providing APIs that enabled other websites to build services using e-Gold's transaction system. Although the U.S. government eventually shut down e-Gold, the federal judge in the case ruled that e-Gold's founders "did not intend to engage in illegal activity." Nevertheless, in November 2008, Douglas-Jackson, e-Gold's CEO, was sentenced to 300 hours of community service, a $200 fine, and three years of supervision, including six months of electronically monitored home detention.
E-Gold's failure came down to their inability to provide a reliable user identification system, as well as their failure to provide a viable dispute resolution system to identify and cut off illegal and abusive activity in the user community, and the fact that he was centralized. Financial cryptographers observe that "despite its decentralized nature, Bitcoin repeats the same basic mistakes as e-gold, and a wave of cybercrime could lead Bitcoin to a similar end." (6) (7)
These are early events. Satoshi Nakamoto knew it by heart. To this day, the shadow has not passed.
In 2021, U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen suggested the "curtailment" of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, using them primarily for illegal financial activities. (8)
Yellen's argument doesn't make sense, and would fiat currencies prevent illegal financial activity? Excuses! Bitcoin has moved the cheese of governments. Their inability to regulate is fundamental. They make the laws, but they can't regulate bitcoin, they can control all the channels of connection to fiat money, and it seems unlikely that the world will shut down bitcoin at this point; the possibility of restrictions is high. Fortunately for the U.S. freedom and legal environment, eventually, Bitcoin will help the U.S. complete its redemption. That is: reduce debt and form Bitcoin dollars, which is another fascinating topic. We will describe it in detail later. U.S. regulatory authorities have seen our proposal and description and believe it will change the opinion on Bitcoin.
To summarize, Satoshi Nakamoto is anonymous and invisible out of concern for legal uncertainty, and his failure to show up means he is still worried. He is afraid of being harmed and has witnessed the historical picture of grievous harm on earth, and the image he sees is not the same as the one we see. China's handling of cryptocurrencies shows such a picture. Again, everyone who delves into it has that fear. His successor, Gavin, studied the legal issues when he joined Bitcoin development in 2010. He says, "I was thinking: Can I get arrested for working with this technology? Would I be put in jail? I'm pretty sure I won't - it's an open-source project, I'm not trying to exploit anyone, and no one is giving me any money. There doesn't seem to be a lot of room for the authorities to be ruthless, arrest me, and throw me in jail." (9) Here, I can't help but admire the brilliance of Bitcoin, the innovation of the economic model, the successful circumvention of the possibility of legal shutdown by law enforcement agencies, the absence of crowdfunding and financing, and the automatic operation of the system.
2.3 The key factor affecting the rise of Bitcoin is not anonymity
If Bitcoin is not anonymous, how is the ledger public? Difficult to design. Anonymity affects ease of use, but it's not just one factor that affects Bitcoin's rise, and it's not a difficult problem to solve. Bitcoin is already less inflationary than gold and should theoretically have the market value of gold, which is now undervalued by more than 20 times compared to gold, which means that consensus still needs to be in place. Looking at Bitcoin's natural growth curve and the 132-year 33 cycles, it is currently on its fourth or bottom cycle. Without external facilitation, it will take at least three more cycles for the consensus to be widely built to the upward inflection point. The early arrival of this inflection point relies on the practical efforts of the relevant participants, including the Federal Reserve.
It will require addressing four issues:
1） so that every bitcoin participant does not worry, is to legalize bitcoin and find a way out that is recognized by both bitcoin participants and regulatory authorities.
2）to solve the ease of use problem once and for all.
3）Satoshi Nakamoto appeared to solve uncertainties such as Nakamoto's currency holdings that big capital institutions are worried about.
4）Most importantly, patch up the global consensus. As a result, Bitcoin is bound to enter an upward cycle.
Neither the first nor the second requires Satoshi Nakamoto's presence, while the third and fourth require him. Does this require knowing who he is? Is he alive or dead? Anonymity is not the above four reasons. It just affects the search for Satoshi Nakamoto. It is necessary to remove the legal thunder on Satoshi Nakamoto's head. Can solve this situation.
The first step is to determine if Satoshi Nakamoto is a man or a woman, how old he is, and see if he is close to your portrait. After that, you should think about it in your head and send your answer to the forum at the following website, and you will be rewarded with coins or points.
Reference
1. Satoshi Nakamoto
HASEEB QURESHI DEC 29, 2019
https://nakamoto.com/satoshi-nakamoto/
2. Crypto Rebels
STEVEN LEVY FEB 1, 1993 12:00 PM
https://www.wired.com/1993/02/crypto-rebels/
3. The Crypto-Currency
Bitcoin and its mysterious inventor.
By Joshua Davis October 3, 2011
“Lewis Solomon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University Law School, who has written about alternative currencies, argues that creating bitcoin might be legal. “Bitcoin is in a gray area, in part because we don’t know whether it should be treated as a currency, a commodity like gold, or possibly even a security,” he says.
Gray areas, however, are dangerous, which may be why Nakamoto constructed bitcoin in secret. It may also explain why he built the code with the same peer-to-peer technology that facilitates the exchange of pirated movies and music: users connect with each other instead of with a central server. There is no company in control, no office to raid, and nobody to arrest.”
4. Cryptography Mailing List
Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper2008-11-06 20:15:40 UTC
“we can win a major battle in the arms race and gain a new territory of freedom for several years.
Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled networks like Napster, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own.”
Satoshi
5. Bernard von NotHaus, the creator of the Liberty Dollar
https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-history-cryptocurrency-satoshi-nakamoto-2017-12
“In 1998, Hawaiian resident Bernard von NotHaus dabbled in a fledgling form of currency called "Liberty Dollars" to disastrous results: He was charged with violating federal law and sentenced to six months of house arrest, along with a three-year probation. ”
6. FC++: BITCOIN & GRESHAM'S LAW - THE ECONOMIC INEVITABILITY OF COLLAPSE
2012-02-23.
http://financialcryptography.com/mt/archives/001363.html
7. E-gold
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-gold
8. In Janet Yellen suggests 'curtailing' cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, saying they are mainly used for illegal financing
Harry Robertson January 21, 2021
9. What Satoshi Did Not Know
Gavin Andresen 2015
https://ifca.ai/pub/fc15/89750001.pdf
Tags: Satoshi Nakamoto
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