Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Former Bitcoin Developer Shares Early Satoshi Nakamoto Emails (vice.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the from-the-archive dept.

Jordan Pearson, writing for Motherboard: Satoshi Nakamoto is Bitcoin's anonymous creator and absentee head of state. In the years since she (or he, or they) disappeared into the ether and left the technology in the hands of a few high-profile developers, Nakamoto's words have become nigh-gospel for some in the Bitcoin world. On Friday, a user going by "CipherionX" on the Bitcointalk forum published five emails allegedly between Satoshi Nakamoto and former Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn. In an email to Motherboard, Hearn confirmed that he shared the emails with the user. While Hearn himself, who was one of the earliest Bitcoin developers, has previously quoted most of the juicy bits from his correspondence with Nakamoto, it appears to be the first time much of the material has been shared in full. None of the emails are included on a popular database of Nakamoto's writings collected from old emails and forum posts.

42 comments

  1. Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I did

    1. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes, they already have:

      http://www.google.com/search?q=buttcoin

    2. Re:Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about shitcoin?

    3. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the years since she (or he, or they)

      HE. The pronoun in English when the sex (aka gender) is uncertain or nonspecific is He. It's acceptable to use She under "new" rules of grammar, but it's better to use "he or she".
      Saying "they" is incorrect because a person is singular, which is a gradeschool grammar lesson which millenials apparently are too fucking stupid to remember. (Exception: conjoined twins and those possessed by demons)

      Saying it like the writer did is all around wrong.

    4. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

      Stupid millenial here. 'They' can also be singular.

      For example: "I replied to an Anonymous Coward on Slashdot, because they needed a lesson in grade school grammar."

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    5. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Saying "they" is incorrect because a person is singular

      And trying to correct people when you don't even know the topic is also incorrect. They're saying he/she/they because there's a possibility that "Satoshi Nakamoto" is a team or at least a group of people.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    6. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 0

      "They" is plural. It substitutes for a plural subject.

      It is *common*, particularly in the US, to use "they" in place of the proper "he" for a subject of indeterminate gender. Shit, I do it myself in *informal* speech, as do many folks raised in the US.

      This does not make it correct, nor does this make it something I use in writing where I'd like to be taken seriously.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    7. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      "Can be" of course refers to acceptability and idiolects. Different people speak differently, nothing surprising there. Some he-ists may be sometimes confused by some they-ists (happens to me quite often!), some they-ists may sometimes be confused by some he-ists. He-or-she-ists will most likely be always understood by all, but many he-ists and they-ists will be hard to convince to change camps for that reason alone (a little bit like you won't convince a person to learn a random foreign language for no good reason).

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    8. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 2

      From Merriam-Webster:

      Much has been written on they, and we aren’t going to attempt to cover it here. We will note that they has been in consistent use as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s; that the development of singular they mirrors the development of the singular you from the plural you, yet we don’t complain that singular you is ungrammatical; and that regardless of what detractors say, nearly everyone uses the singular they in casual conversation and often in formal writing.

      You also used to be plural, but they and you became acceptable for singular use around the same time, 700 years ago.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    9. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

      I don't care about any of that. The OP I was replying to specifically said that it was grammatically incorrect, and that is not true.

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    10. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 2

      Oxford also agrees, and apparently so did Shakespeare:

      Despite objections, there is a trend to use ‘singular they’. In fact, it is historically long established. It goes back at least to the 16th century, and writers such as Shakespeare, Sidney, Byron, and Ruskin used it:

      There's not a man I meet but doth salute me
      As if I were their well-acquainted friend
      (Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors)

      --
      Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
    11. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      It's neither incorrect not correct. These are almost antiquated notions AFAIK.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    12. Re: Has anyone said buttcoin yet by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      Uh, where is "they" in the quote you used?

  2. Quite likely fake. by ASDFnz · · Score: 1

    Wait for some sort of verification before you start a "Satoshi Said" holy war.

    1. Re:Quite likely fake. by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      Did you even read the summary? 1) some other user published them, 2) the original recipient of the emails said they are real.

      Yes, both of them could be lying, but isn't the recipient/participant in the conversation saying they're real verification for these purposes?

    2. Re:Quite likely fake. by ASDFnz · · Score: 1

      Did you even read the summary?

      Yes. More importantly, I read them when they were released here:

      1) some other user published them,

      Thats right

      2) the original recipient of the emails said they are real.

      https://bitcointalk.org/index....

      Yes, both of them could be lying, but isn't the recipient/participant in the conversation saying they're real verification for these purposes?

    3. Re:Quite likely fake. by ASDFnz · · Score: 1

      Slashdot it totally farked at the moment BUT what I was going to say is that we only have the users word that the original recipient of the emails said they are real.

    4. Re:Quite likely fake. by mattack2 · · Score: 1

      OK, then I guess you're saying that we don't have proof of "In an email to Motherboard, Hearn confirmed that he shared the emails with the user."

    5. Re:Quite likely fake. by ASDFnz · · Score: 1

      I am saying all we have at the moment is hearsay. Somebody gave someone else something and someone says someones else verifies it.

      I am not even saying it isn't true, I am just saying that in bitcoin there are A LOT of fakes out there and until you actually get the evidence treat everything with suspicion. Fortunately, bitcoin being based in cryptography we can have overwhelming evidence that something is true or not and that makes it even more suspicious when we have a "take my word for it" story like this.

  3. Quite likely religious. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How's one going to do that? And you're already late the religion has already started. Service will start in an hour.

  4. Re:It's definitely a he by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Satoshi ... is generally a masculine Japanese given name.

    What more there is to debate about? This part is clear.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  5. Fake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought it was quite well substantiated by now that Satoshi Nakamoto is a fabrication. Guess people aren't really paying attention.

    1. Re:Fake by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      Nah, it's Keyser Soze that's fake. Satoshi is real. Hangs out on an island with Tupac.

    2. Re:Fake by rogoshen1 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Plotline from "The Usual Suspects 2: Fedora Island"

  6. the worship of Satoshi Nakamoto by sheramil · · Score: 1

    Nakamoto's words have become nigh-gospel for some in the Bitcoin world.

    and:

    None of the emails are included on a popular database of Nakamoto's writings collected from old emails and forum posts.

    Who reveres this imaginary person so much? Who would maintain a popular database of his writings? Could it be Satoshi Nakamato?

    1. Re:the worship of Satoshi Nakamoto by sexconker · · Score: 2

      People who understand the significance of what he created?
      People who think he may still be out there?
      People who think it's a pseudonym for a government group, alien invasion team, barbershop quarter?

    2. Re:the worship of Satoshi Nakamoto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll die with too many secrets. A member of satoshi was a regular on #unix on efnet.

  7. Re:It's definitely a he by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If a woman can't handle a credit card in a shoe store bitcoin is definitely out of the question, let alone programming.

  8. Satoshi is working on Ethereum? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Interesting choice of words:

    In the years since she (or he, or they) disappeared into the ether

  9. Re:It's definitely a he by sexconker · · Score: 1

    This. Assuming the name wasn't specifically designed to disguise sex, it's clearly a male.
    Of course, many believe Satoshi is actually a group of people.

  10. Fascinating - I think.. maybe.. I know him? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gosh.. I've never read an email by the guy before.. so on a lark, I sampled one.

    It kinda floored me.

    I think I also know why he's a mystery.. and it is a he.

  11. Re:It's definitely a he by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Why would â" for a none Japanese â" Satoshi be clearly a male name?
    Plenty of jap. names are unisex, and the ending vowel like a/o in italian e.g does not indicate any sex in jap.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  12. "She" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    insufferable

  13. N. Korean conspiracy? by spinitch · · Score: 1

    There are a small number of N.Koreans in Japan that might be behind bitcoin to topple capitalist pigs.

  14. Re:It's definitely a he by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    Or maybe it's the opposite. She created Bitcoin with the knowledge that within a few years she could buy new shoes every hour.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  15. Re:I am Satoshi Nakamoto by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No! I am Spartacu... err Satoshi Nakamoto!

  16. British English? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Noticed something? Satoshi forgot to pretend he was British this time. He writes "standardize" instead of "standardise".

  17. Re:It's definitely a he by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Satoshi is typically a male name in Japanese.