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Did Elon Musk Create Bitcoin? (cryptocoinsnews.com)

An anonymous reader quotes CryptoCoinsNews: It should be no surprise that the elusive hunt for Satoshi, often referred to as the father of Bitcoin, has led to the theory that Elon Musk has been hiding a big secret from all of us. Sahil Gupta, a computer science student at Yale University and former intern at SpaceX, believes just this... Bitcoin was written by someone with mastery of C++, a language Musk has utilized heavily at SpaceX. Musk's 2013 Hyperloop paper also provided insight into his deep understanding of cryptography and economics...

One week before Gupta's Medium post on Musk, another Medium blog was published with a theory that Musk invented Bitcoin for future use on Mars. As radical as this may sounds, the point around Paypal in this article was relevant. Musk has already revolutionized digital currency with his founding role in Paypal, which he sold to eBay in 2002. The author claims Musk is under a non-compete from this deal, leaving him to secrecy about his role in Bitcoin.

Gupta's article cites other clues that suport his theory, including Musk's interest in solving global problems, his unusual silence on the topic of cryptocurrencies, and the fact that "Elon has said publicly he doesn't own any bitcoin, which is consistent with a 'Good Satoshi' who deleted his private keys. This means Satoshi's one million coins (worth about $8 billion) are gone for good." And of course, with a net worth of $19.7 billion, Elon Musk is one of the few people who wouldn't need the money.

UPDATE (11/28/17): On Twitter, Elon Musk has responded, saying the rumors that he created Bitcoin are "not true."

4 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Do we need even more demented "stories"? by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because this is a new low in a series of very low quality stories that recently made it on slashdot. While the comments also seem to have slipped and the idiots seem to have the majority now, I do not think they should be catered to.

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    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  2. odds by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What are the odds that the one famous person who knows c+ did this, and the other millions of smart non famous programmers, didn't.

    I know we love our celebrities but come on. Besides hes got an ego the size of the moon. There is no way he is not bragging about inventing bitcoin.

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  3. C++? What a coincidence! by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bitcoin was written by someone with mastery of C++, a language Musk has utilized heavily at SpaceX.

    a) Musk personally, or the people Musk employs at SpaceX?
    b) It's C++. It's not exactly esoteric. You know I heard that DB Cooper spoke English, and so does Clint Eastwood... coincideeeence?

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  4. First headline to break Betteridge's Law? by cliffjumper222 · · Score: 4, Insightful