- A new Satoshi Nakamoto candidate announced himself during a Berlin Bitcoin seminar yesterday
- The individual claimed he was looking for his mother and asked attendees to help him find her
- Despite his nonsense claim, the incident is another example of the more unhinged elements of society using Satoshi’s name for their own means
Crypto wouldn’t be crypto without the odd lunatic here or there, and 2025 has produced one right off the bat: a new Satoshi Nakamoto contender announced himself at the Berlin Bitcoin Socratic Seminar yesterday. The individual, who did not give his name, left a letter in which he asked to be called Sato, claimed that he wrote music for the rock band Kings of Leon and requested help finding his mother. Although clearly not a serious candidate, he is a marginally more convincing candidate than others who have made headlines in recent years.
‘Sato’ Wants to Find His Mother
The story of a new Satoshi candidate came through Bitcoiner Simon Tennant, who posted about it on X:
Breaking news
A new Satoshi contender announced himself in today’s Berlin Bitcoin Socratic Seminar.
English translation at https://t.co/vdWraCtOYT pic.twitter.com/gEtIXEoL2n
— Simon Tennant (@imaginator) January 8, 2025
The English translation ‘Satoshi’s’ letter asks that he be called “Sato (pronounced Sahto) to distinguish myself from Satoshi as a group,” before progressing into his real goal:
So I am asking for your help in getting in touch with Amy McLaughlin, my mother in the USA. She has my records and proof of this. So does her son Stan McLaughlin. The German actress Peri Baumeister may also be able to make contact. Or can you help me reach them through public media? Maybe through HBO, or Forbes Magazine in the USA?
This bizarre request was followed by outlandish claims that he was a doctor of medicine and, in his spare time, he enjoys “Aikido, and writing music (for Kings of Leon and Alice Merton).” In probably the biggest giveaway, Sato states that he doesn’t own any cryptocurrency but adds that he is sure he will be able to “catch up quickly if I can find out more about it here.” Satoshi Nakamoto, of course, is known to own (or, at least, have owned in the past) something in the region of a million bitcoins.
Satoshi Claim Attracts the Mentally Ill
There is, of course, a serious side to nonsense claims such as these. This individual claims to have “very severe ADHD,” and those who have had the misfortune to bump into other Satoshi claimants in the past are typically sure of one thing: mental illness lurks not too far around the corner. This is almost certainly the case with Australian computer security consultant Craig Wright, whose pathological lying could lead to him being imprisoned, whereas others make the claim merely to aid in a scam.
At the basis of all of this is a simple mantra that it pays to remember: the biggest clue that someone isn’t Satoshi is that they say they are.
