Satoshi Nakamoto reveals his identity! Or not. Another supposed unveiling of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, which received nothing but derision from the crypto community in the lead up to it, resulted in a long-winded bore-fest of a blog post that fooled no one and simply left many questioning why it was even attempted in the first place. The stunt, the second this year following another in May, appears to fulfill all the criteria of a PR exercise, and one that may end up costing the PR company behind it a slice of their reputation.
Satoshi Nakamoto Renaissance Holdings… Seriously?
The story began last week when a website, Satoshi Nakamoto Renaissance Holdings, appeared which proclaimed to belong to Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto, who would supposedly reveal his true identity on Sunday, August 18. This was picked up by several outlets who were rightly skeptical, given the timing was strange (why now?), the method was unusual (going through a PR company), and the very premise was unlike the actions of the notoriously publicity-shy Satoshi Nakamoto. Doubts began to emerge among almost everyone in the community, while the PR company hired to look after Satoshi Nakamoto Renaissance Holdings’ “strategic communications” churned out more hype through every press release channel they could.
The ‘Big’ Reveal
Come the day and what we got was a very Satoshi-unlike blog post detailing the supposed history of the man himself, how he came up with his name, and of course the creation of the cryptocurrency we all know and love. We won’t go through the post in detail because we don’t find it worthy of comment, except to say that if this was written by Satoshi Nakamoto then he’s had a complete personality transformation since his last written messages in 2010. What we can do is look at the responses, particularly that of Monero creator Riccardo Spagni who mercilessly ripped apart the claim shortly after its publication:
Hey @ivymclemore, just so you’re aware, Bilal Khalid is not Satoshi Nakamoto. Have fun promoting his “reveal” whilst your name gets dragged through the mud!
— Riccardo Spagni (@fluffypony) August 18, 2019
The website in question is owned and operated by one Bilal Khalid, and it doesn’t take much for Spagni to find inconsistencies in claims made by Khalid regarding his web domain registrations and in particular the various incarnations of the name that supposedly ended up being Bitcoin. It didn’t take long for others to pile in with other inconsistencies and errors:
There’s already a huge discrepancy in writing style. Satoshi used the word “while” and did not write with such prominent british phrasing & spelling. This guy is using “whilst” excessively. I can’t find Satoshi ever using it. Is this where the mimicry attempt breaks down?
— BittBurger (@BittBurger) August 18, 2019
LMFAO. Satoshi promoting his “blockchain” business. Can’t stop laughing. pic.twitter.com/mJ05oUTrqy
— DJ Booth (@djbooth007) August 16, 2019
A PR stunt begins with “this is not a PR stunt.”
BS.
— Digital Magna Coin Laude (@Crypto_Bastiat) August 18, 2019
There’s More to Come Unfortunately
Whether Ivy McLemore and Associates, the company roped into being the hype machine for this complete shit show, knew what they were getting into is unknown, but it’s fair to say that they probably weren’t prepared for the kickback that is coming their way. And there are still two more parts to come…
Ivy McLemore is a fraud
— BitcoinMartini? (@PeterChaoMartin) August 17, 2019
