Despite the colossal influence of cryptocurrencies on commerce, computing, and even politics, the true identity of the presumed pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, remains a mystery in 2025. Making things trickier for identity sleuths, this individual (or perhaps the name represents a group?) disappeared without a trace on this day in 2010, that’s exactly 15 years ago.

On this day 15 years ago, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ posted a final public message, then disappeared. The engineer’s true identity remains the greatest mystery of the internet. pic.twitter.com/yEbQIgRZhMDecember 12, 2025

Solving the ‘double-spending problem’

Benjamin Wallace, the author of The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius behind Crypto, wrote earlier this year that the BTC creator’s defining moment was the publication of an article on November 1, 2008.

On that day, the nine-page-long Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was shared on a little-known crypto mailing list. Its significance: it would solve the double-spending problem, which had cryptographers in knots for decades prior.

In essence, Nakamoto proposed a public ledger using blockchain that would prevent fraudulent copying and thus double-spending of any digital asset. This peer-to-peer system would be developed and refined by the BTC creator over the following months before their disappearance.

Satoshi is super-rich…

Wherever they are or however they live today, the most famous name in crypto history may also be one of the wealthiest entities in the world. Recently cited as the 11th-richest ‘person,’ Nakamoto is thought to still hold the majority of the 1.1 million BTC they mined in the currency’s first year.

Today, that crypto fortune would be worth about $99 billion. However, BTC valuations have recently slid to around $90,000 after several months of oscillation around the $110,000 to $120,000 level.

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…If they are alive, and the coins are still accessible

Nakamoto’s BTC fortune has remained unspent since 2010, while its valuation has fluctuated wildly. This incredible level of HODLing has led analysts to believe the BTC creator has either passed away or has tragically lost access to the crypto. Others still believe Nakamoto is intentionally maintaining an absolute silence.

Bitcoin has no expiration mechanism, with no timeouts, no inactivity penalties, or other kind of reversion to the network. Moreover, there seems to be no quantum or other new-fangled computer cryptography tech that is anywhere near breaking the SHA-256 algorithm. Thus, these coins may indeed remain inaccessible to anyone other than Nakamoto for the next 20–40 years.

However, the situation could change if any of the founders’ coins are ever moved or spent. Such an action would cause a stir in itself. Still, it would also expose the public key of that specific coin, creating a more vulnerable attack surface for a sufficiently powerful future quantum computer.

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Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom’s Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.