Why The Real Satoshi Has Never Come Forward (Score 1)

There is a reason that the real Satoshi has not come forward to identify himself, and it is not what you think. I'm quite certain that none of you will believe this, as I offer no proof to support this posting, but I'm not really concerned with the judgements of others regarding the veracity of my words. Satoshi has not come forward to reveal himself, not because he wishes to remain hidden, but rather because he cannot. He has been dead for a number of years now. I am only coming forward to leave this random little spec of a post so that it may remain somewhere, in its own little corner of the universe that man has created in the aether, as I am finding that my own time is now grown short. I spoke to him at length, years ago, our paths having crossed quite by chance. At the time I had a vested personal interested in cryptography, and frequented a great many places, both virtual, as well as physical, dedicated to its study and application. In time, I found myself frequenting a great many places where the main topic at hand was Bitcoin, at which time is was really nothing new, but had not yet entered into the view of the common populace at large. I found myself, quite by accident, involved in a discussion with a number of individuals regarding bleeding edge cryptographic technologies, and it was then that was contacted by the Man himself; Satoshi. He had become interested in some thoughts I had put forth on several proposed methods that could be used in order to ensure that the end result of a cryptographic scheme would be what I can only describe as insanely convoluted, the obvious goal being the prevention of it being broken. He initially introduced himself to me as Satoshi Nakamoto. The name is not his real name, but rather one he had come up based off of an amalgamation of several characters of which he was a fan. Satoshi wasn't even Japanese, merely appreciative of anime, old japanese cinema, and the japanese culture, he himself never actually having been to Japan, although it was always a wish of his to hopefully one day visit. In actuality, he was German/ Austrian, and living outside Munich at that time. Our discussions became a daily affair, and gradually would include all manner of topics, both academic and casual, as we both shared a number of interests outside of the purely technical, mainly our tastes in japanese culture and an appreciation for the higher concepts found in science fiction, as well as the study of philosophy and ethics. After nearly a year of close friendship, Satoshi confided in me a great and troubling worry that he had possessed for some time regarding the future of Bitcoin. He was dying. At the time he told me he had less than three months left on this earth. His main concern was in ensuring the ongoing integrity and security of Bitcoin, so that it could continue to grow and one day become the final end all be all unified global currency. It was his personal belief that for the world to continue to develop in hopes of reaching a far distant future, where a more cohesive world order could exist to facilitate mankind growing beyond the confines our own pettiness in order to overcome the numerous and seemingly insurmountable problems that we were beginning to face in our self made modern age, a global currency was a logical and necessary step, but one that would take several lifetimes to come to fruition. His specific concern with his own looming mortality was the integrity of Bitcoin itself. It doesn't take a passing glance at the concept of Bitcoin to understand, that so long as the encryption can hold out, the currency can hold its own based upon its merits, but that like any currency or commodity, its valuation is tied directly to the rate and manner in which it is utilized, and its availability. There are a great many minds that had helped Satoshi make it what it was by that time, but his growing fear was that for as well as he knew some of us and wanted to believe in the good of man, he did not know who he could entrust to best serve its future. He had accomplished a great many things in his life, and ensured that once he was gone his loved ones would not go wanting. It was his intention to leave his vast amount of Bitcoin to someone before the moment of his death, but his fear was that in doing so, depending on the person, their actions could seemingly be capable of devaluing it to the point of weakening it into an inevitable failure. Both of us were certain at that time that as far as the state of the technology was, the cryptographic scheme would hold its own for a decade or more, especially if it could continue to be improved upon. It was because of this, after many lengthy discussions on this point, he and myself both arrived at the same conclusion: that in order to give Bitcoin the absolute best chance to continue to grow into the future, the best course of action would be to not give it away, but rather to let his portion of Bitcoin remain untouched. In doing so, it would ensure a vast base of Bitcoin would always remain untapped, so as to offer a base pool of stability for the currency's continued existence. This was not a decision he reached lightly, for he was a kind and generous person, and had wanted to find a way to put his fortune to the best possible use for the good of others, but was concerned that if he entrusted it one or several people upon his passing, that it would have the same effect as if he had simply spent it all. Allowing his portion to die along with him, so to speak, would ensure that so long as no one was able to break the backbone of Bitcoin itself, it would have the best chance to endure into the future. I know all of this, and know also that this is one more reason that will cause anyone reading this post to doubt the possibility of it being true, because towards the end we had grown so close that he had offered it to me, hoping that I could be trusted to keep it as he himself had done so up until that time. The part that I'm fairly certain will raise all of those doubting eyebrows another full furrow, is that I refused him. While I have always aspired to be a good person, and I knew my capacity to be tempted as any man would, and while I hold the fulfillment of any man's dying wish to be sacred thing to be adhered to at all cost if possible, I told him that I would not trust myself to do as he had done once he was gone. Besides, while not a man possessing of such means as Satoshi had at his disposal, I would be lying if I said that my life could not already at that time be described as comfortable. It was for this reason, that we both arrived at the same conclusion: he would die, but rather than pass his Bitcoin on to myself or any number of others, it would remain after the time of his passing. As long as the scheme of Bitcoin itself holds out, his Bitcoin remain as the foundation that helps ensure its ability to survive, and if it does not, than for all that it was, it unfortunately was not the solution to the problem he was attempting to address. I have held off for some time relaying any of this to anyone, as it was my fear that in telling the world of this, I would basically be sounding a dinner bell and painting a large target on his portion of the blockchain. There were at the time, and even more so today, a limitless number of actors that would attempt to break the system in order to access such a vast fortune, and that with no one actually being able to curate it when necessary, someone might actually succeed in such an undertaking, and in doing so ruin the life's work of my friend. It is because of this, that he made the decision to simply let Bitcoin march onwards after his passing, and let the world and fate decide if it would stand the test of time and serve as what he meant it to be for the world. Satoshi has been gone for some time now, and as it seems I have no choice in the matter but to soon follow after him, I have put this forth. I do not really care if any of you believe any of this, but if you take one single thing away from this at all, let it be that ANY man or woman that comes forth claiming to be Satoshi is not him, for Satoshi is dead, and has been for some time. Even if they come forth with a vast fortune at hand, they are either lying, already having had a fortune of other means, or they are lying, and are simply the one to have finally been able to manage to break Bitcoin in its entirety. I hope and pray that one of the many proud accomplishments of his life that Bitcoin is continues to grow and thrive so that it may one day become what he had truly intended for all of mankind, and that even if he is not known to the world, what he has done will be remembered fondly far into the future. I miss you dearly old friend, and how greatly I miss our talks, but if the universe is in any way kind, hopefully, and with a little "luck", I'll be seeing you soon...