The argument over the true identity behind Satoshi Nakamoto has been raging since Bitcoin’s release back in 2008, with multiple people claiming to be the mastermind behind the project. Craig Wright has claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto time and time again, failing to ever produce any real proof to back up his claims. More recently a new contender stepped out into the open. Going by the name of Bilal Khalid, the budding entrepreneur doesn’t have any coding credentials and it looks merely like a marketing stunt.
In a bid to put the Satoshi Nakamoto claims to bed, Ray Youssef – Paxful CEO – has suggested that Bitcoin undergoes a soft fork to burn all of the tokens associated with Satoshi Nakamoto.
Turning Satoshi Nakamoto Into a Legend
Youssef’s suggestion has caused a bit of controversy in the crypto world, but in reality, it’s probably not a bad idea. Rather than people falsely claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto, dragging the name through the mud for a simple PR stunt, Satoshi would become a legend – a bit like a saint. The real Satoshi could be given a set period of time to come forwards and prove his or her true identity, otherwise the Bitcoin blockchain would soft fork and burn the coins forever. Once the coins that Satoshi mined back in the early days of Bitcoin are all gone, then there is no fear that Satoshi could liquidate his or her assets and crash the market, and there is nothing to gain by claiming to be Satoshi.
While Youssef made the comments, he quickly realized his mistake and deleted the Tweet. He then apologized to the world after he caused a huge amount of controversy, saying it was a simple “what if” rather than a suggestion to the Bitcoin devs.
My apologies to the former tweet. It was a hypothetical “what if” Satoshi would ping us and say “hi, still here. signed keys” He would even still remain anonymous. The Libertarians are out in strength and that is awesome. Immutable ledgers should stay immutable and POW. ?
— Ray Youssef (@raypaxful) August 21, 2019
Could the Coins Be Added Back into Circulation?
Everyone knows that Bitcoin’s small blocks prevent miners from being able to make enough money once the Bitcoin reward becomes a handful of Satoshis, so why not burn Satoshi’s Bitcoin and then add them back to the pile of unmined Bitcoins. This would delay the inevitable end of Bitcoin by decades and it’s certainly a better option than simply increasing the max supply. This could be done with a hard fork, and persuading miners that this is a good way to go could be rather easy.
Youssef’s suggestion does go against the core principles of Bitcoin, but it might make sense – especially if we want to stop hearing about fake Satoshi Nakamoto reveals. At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that this will ever be more than a suggestion from Youssef as doing this would open a huge can of worms for the Bitcoin developers.
