A Newsweek article claiming to have discovered the founder of Bitcoin has largely been debunked, while the community downplays his significance

On March 6th Newsweek reported that it had tracked down Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, who is believed be the real Satoshi Nakamoto, founder of the virtual currency Bitcoin. The currency has become a popular form of payment for online gambling casinos. Nakamoto allegedly developed the currency in 2009 before going off the grid.

However, Dorian Nakamoto, a software engineer living in California, has not claimed to be the founder of Bitcoin and has shown no interest in talking with reporters. The Associated Press later reported that Dorian has denied any involvement with the currency, which is now being accepted everywhere from Virgin Galactic to mobile sports betting provider Bet365.

Bitcoin community deflects media attention

Members of the Bitcoin community have asked the media to leave Dorian Nakamoto alone, and downplay the importance of who actually invented the currency. Bitcoin is in essence a leaderless project, being developed in part to counter the monopoly power than government’s have over national currencies.

An article from Wired summed this up perfectly:

If bitcoin exists to manifest the libertarian ideal that money can be exchanged far from the prying eyes of governments and corporations, then the anonymous Satoshi – too smart to ever be ID’d, too cool to even spend his estimated $400 million in bitcoins – is the real-world John Galt.