One of the greatest enigmas posed in the crypto world is the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, who invented Bitcoin. One of the most likely candidates for Satoshi Nakamoto is Nick Szabo, an American computer scientist and cryptographer with considerable influence on blockchain technology.
Nick Szabo is an authoritative person in cryptography and virtual currency. Szabo holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Washington and a Juris Doctor from George Washington University. He has made significant strides in the application of blockchain technology, its design, and many other related decentralized systems. In his concepts, however, the most publicized was that of “smart contracts” – the term that eventually “prepared the ground” for current cryptocurrencies. First proposed in 1994, these contracts have their conditions written in codes and automatically execute themselves to ensure legal transactions are conducted over an electronic platform.
Moreover, Szabo’s speculative digital currency, Bit Gold, fueled civilization's curiosity about its possible association with Bitcoin. In 1998, Szabo came up with Bit Gold, a proposal that has much in common with Bitcoin.
There are interesting parallel patterns seen in the projects of Szabo’s Bit Gold and Bitcoin. Cryptographic proof-of-work was first introduced in Bit Gold, a critical element later incorporated into Bitcoin. In the case of Bitcoin, the network is secured through the use of computing power, whereas in Szabo’s method, called Bit Gold, a quorum of addresses was used, exposing the system to Sybil attacks, a weakness that Szabo most probably would have fixed had Bit Gold been officially rolled out.
Since Nicole Szabo introduced Bit Gold ten years earlier than Satoshi Nakamoto did with the white paper on Bitcoin, many speculate that it would be impossible for any other option than to consider him capable of improving and developing his concepts into the system she calls Bitcoin today.
Several factors lead people to think Nick Szabo is Satoshi Nakamoto. An engineer by profession with a background in cryptography and blockchain. Therefore, he would create a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.
This is further seen in the development of Bit Gold, which is similar to the functions of Bitcoin. Indeed, several experts, including author Dominic Frisby, have also mentioned that the writing patterns of Szabo and Nakamoto seemed to belong to the same author. In addition, both mention Austrian economist Carl Menger, which gives speculation that Szabo is in fact, Nakamoto.
The mystery surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity became overly pronounced after a taboo-busting HBO documentary was released on October 8th, which hints at revealing the creator of Bitcoin.
The question of whether Szabo is Satoshi is still a question. The truth about who created bitcoins has not come out, and the story of Satoshi Nakamoto, whether history remembers him as the true one or not, will always carry Szabo’s name.