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Did Elon Musk Create Bitcoin? (cryptocoinsnews.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the secret-identities dept.

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."

15 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. ObBetteridge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    No.

    1. Re:ObBetteridge by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is one of the weirdest ideas I've seen on Slashdot yet, and that's saying something.

      Elon Musk may be something of a genius when it comes to turning government subsidies into pocket cash, but this is just plain tinfoil hat territory.

  2. Don't know who created it by Dorianny · · Score: 5, Funny

    but once it reaches $10G, I fully expect Donald Trump to take credit for it

    1. Re:Don't know who created it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Trump is best at mining. His little hands can dig into the ether and get the tiny coins out.

    2. Re:Don't know who created it by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't think Musk could keep quiet about it either. In fact knowing him he would have promised it would overtake Visa by the end of the year and released a solar powered mining rig that also charges your car.

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      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. 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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  4. No. by c · · Score: 5, Funny

    The answer is "no", and someone seriously needs to loosen their tinfoil hat.

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  5. 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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    -
  6. Re:Haha what? by Pseudonym · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hell, I know C++ (I used to have a desk next to someone on the standards committee) and I know cryptography (I was part of the OpenPGP working group and wrote a conforming implementation from the draft spec alone just to prove that the spec was good enough).

    Why is nobody claiming I'm Satoshi?

    Apart from the fact that I already have a pretty good pseudonym, and that I clearly don't have Satoshi-level crypto knowledge, the real reason is that I'm nobody. Satoshi was a mythical lone genius, which means he must be someone that most people have heard on. Only people with had-a-voice-role-on-The-Simpsons-level fame get attached to rumours like this.

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  7. 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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  8. First headline to break Betteridge's Law? by cliffjumper222 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

  9. Re: Haha what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Very clever, Satoshi, very clever.

  10. Mandatory XKCD by orsayman · · Score: 5, Funny

    https://xkcd.com/1400/

  11. Given how delusional his fanboys are by NotSoHeavyD3 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I figure it's only a matter of time before one of them tells us the Elon also created the Universe 13.7 billion years ago.

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  12. Re: Haha what? by G-forze · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not that bad? 14 dollars fee to purchase "a few things" is INSANE! Most of the world live on less than that each day.

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    "There's someone in my head but it's not me." - Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon