Elusive Bitcoin 'founder' Adam Back lives in Malta
Back denies being the man behind the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym
A British man identified by the New York Times as elusive Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto lives in Malta.
Adam Back has long been on the list of potential suspects in the hunt for who could be behind the Satoshi pseudonym, and the $70 billion Bitcoin stash linked to the cryptocurrency’s founder.
He is the founder and CEO of BlockStream, a provider of blockchain technologies. A subsidiary of BlockStream was set up in Malta in 2016.
In the New York Times article, Back’s emails and online posts are compared to those of Satoshi, with journalists noting the striking similarities in their phrasing.
An analysis of Back's online activity also matches up with that of Satoshi's disappearance shortly after Bitcoin's white paper, the manifesto outlining its philosophy, was published online.
Back is quoted in the article as saying he moved to Malta for several reasons, including cost of living, the weather and the island’s tax regime.
The New York Times article says Back denied being Satoshi "more than a half-dozen times”.
“Clearly I’m not Satoshi, that’s my position... And it’s true as well, for what it’s worth,” the article quotes Back as saying.
The Malta resident also hit back at these latest claims linking him to Satoshi on X.
Back acknowledged his early interest in cryptography, online privacy and electronic cash, but denied being Satoshi.
In a 2020 X post, after again being linked to Satoshi, Back said he had moved to Malta, which he described as an “EU tax haven”, in 2009.
Back was even interviewed in Malta about Satoshi by the American TV network HBO in 2024.
He acknowledged being on the list of Satoshi “suspects” but again emphasised he was not Bitcoin’s founder.
The HBO documentary went on to conclude that Peter Todd, a Canadian programmer, was the most likely person behind the Satoshi pseudonym.
Much like Back, Todd vehemently denied the claims, calling them “ludicrous” and “nonsense”.
In an interview after the HBO documentary, Back argued that it is a good thing for Bitcoin that Satoshi has never been unmasked.
“Bitcoin's mission is more about being adopted as a kind of global fabric and electronic money, and with no founder figure involved, it helps it feel more like a discovery than a start-up or an invention. I think that it's good for the concept of bitcoin as a commodity,” Back said.