– Adam Back, welcome to “The Daily.” Thank you so much for coming on the show. – Of course, thanks for having me on. – Should I call you Adam or Mr. Back or Mr. Nakamoto? – Adam is fine. OK . – It is what everybody’s wondering. You are here, of course, because my colleague at The Times, John Carreyrou, just published an investigation in which he presents a giant body of evidence gathered over more than a year that points to you being the inventor of Bitcoin, someone who has operated under the alias Satoshi Nakamoto for 17 years. So, I’m just going to ask you point-blank: Are you Satoshi Nakamoto? – No, I’m not. I think, you know, of course, it’s a fascinating topic as to who this person would be. And all of the sort of circumstantial evidence has been analyzed extensively by, you know, many researchers. So effectively, I think what we’re left with is sort of speculative analysis. And, of course, looking at the historic writings, which John does an interesting job of in the article. – I think at this point I want to bring John into the conversation. He’s been listening in. Can we get John over here? Do you mind coming? And have him sit next to me. Great. Hi, John. – Hi. Adam, I just want to set aside for a second the question of whether you’re Satoshi and ask you: If Satoshi were calling in to this show today, and I asked him, “Are you Satoshi?,” do you think he would say yes? – It’s kind of hypothetical to me, right? Because I’m not. But, I’ve seen a number of people in interview settings being asked that question and saying, they wouldn’t say or something like that. Right? I think because there is some attraction to this idea that Bitcoin is stronger for not having a kind of vocal founder. – Right. – So, yeah, I think that’s the common answer. And it sounds logical to me. – In other words, the common answer would be that that Satoshi calling into the show wouldn’t admit that he’s Satoshi. – Well,, I mean, I think my assumption is Satoshi would simply decline to participate or, you know, be hard to identify even as a candidate to, you know, to try to contact or bring into an interview.
