Satoshi Nakamoto’s name is almost as well known as the cryptocurrency he created. But while Bitcoin, the first of many cryptocurrencies, has taken on a life of its own, Nakamoto remains much more of an enigma—and he might not even be a man at all. Claims that Nakamoto is a woman have circulated for a long time now, partly due to speculation and partly because it’s such a disruptive, empowering idea: that a leading—the leading, at the beginning—voice and power in cryptocurrency was and has been a woman.
Bitcoinist examines the idea that Nakamoto is a woman, as well as the validation that such representation can bring to women in the crypto space and the satisfaction of upending assumptions that men are behind all financial and technological advancements. Click through for more, and keep lifting up women’s voices in cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Is ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, the mysterious, anonymous creator of Bitcoin the original cryptocurrency, actually a woman?
In 2008 Nakamoto authored the white paper describing the most famous crypto, from which all other cryptos have spawned. In a community and industry dominated by men, the statement “Satoshi is a female” – a theory promoted by New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney at the Women on the Block event in Brooklyn on May 13 – is extremely provocative. To many, it is akin to suggesting that Jesus was a girl.
Ms. Maloney may have had her tongue in her cheek, but her comment highlights a serious point: are the contributions of women in the cryptocurrency world being diluted?
In a male-heavy tech industry, this is an all-too-familiar theme. Most of us believe that men invented computers and the internet, and almost everything else, in fact.
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