NYT Claims Adam Back Is Satoshi Based on 67 Hyphenation Errors
The New York Times accused British cryptographer Adam Back of being Satoshi Nakamoto after finding 67 exact hyphenation errors shared with Bitcoin's creator. Back went silent from electronic cash discussions around late 2008 when Satoshi announced Bitcoin, then reappeared six weeks after Satoshi vanished in 2011.
Key Takeaway
Every Satoshi investigation finds compelling evidence, but Bitcoin's creator has stayed hidden for 15 years.
British cryptographer Adam Back shared 67 exact hyphenation errors with Satoshi Nakamoto, according to a New York Times investigation that claims he created Bitcoin's ₱83.34 trillion ($1.4 trillion) network.
Journalist John Carreyrou based his accusation on linguistic analysis that found Back used obscure phrases identical to Satoshi, including "burning the money." Between 1997 and 1999, Back outlined Bitcoin's core components on cypherpunk mailing lists a decade before the cryptocurrency launched. He discussed distributed networks, proof-of-work mining, and Byzantine fault tolerance in posts that preceded the white paper. Back went silent in electronic cash discussions around late 2008 when Satoshi announced Bitcoin, then reappeared six weeks after Satoshi vanished in 2011. Carreyrou met Back in person at a hotel in El Salvador during a conference to present the evidence. Back denied everything, calling the investigation "confirmation bias."
He joins a crowded field of Satoshi suspects. HBO documentary director Cullen Hoback claimed Canadian developer Peter Todd created Bitcoin based on a 2010 Bitcointalk forum post, but Todd called the theory "ludicrous" and noted that if Satoshi made such basic operational security mistakes, "he wouldn't have stayed hidden for 15 years." Polymarket bettors gave 44% odds to deceased cypherpunk Len Sassaman before the HBO film aired, though his widow Meredith Patterson told DL News he's not Satoshi.
Nick Szabo remains another persistent candidate after a 2014 Aston University Centre for Forensic Linguistics study found his writing style closest to the Bitcoin white paper among 13 suspects. Australian computer scientist Craig Wright claimed for eight years starting in 2016 that he created Bitcoin, filing lawsuits against developers and exchanges until a UK High Court judge ruled in 2024 that Wright's claims were "a lie, founded on an elaborate false narrative and backed by forgery of documents on an industrial scale."
Bitcoin dropped 2.4% from ₱4,064,032 ($68,269) to ₱3,966,701 ($66,634) following the NYT investigation's publication on April 9, 2026.
This article was written based on reporting from Dlnews.
