If reports are to be believed, the inventor of Bitcoin has been found. Sydney-based Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has stepped out into the limelight to publicly identify himself as Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto.

It has been years since the question has been posed, with investigations into the mystery of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Five months have passed after news reports outed Australian computer scientist and entrepreneur, Craig Steven Wright, as the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

In a post today, May 2nd, Dr. Wright has staked his claim as the inventor of the cryptocurrency, with technical evidence to back his claim.

The technical proof provided by Dr. Wright in his messages are in addition to the computer scientist digitally signing messages using the same cryptographic keys linked to very first blocks of bitcoins that were mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, during an interview with the BBC.

During his demonstration, Dr. Wright stated:

These are the blocks used to send 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney in January [2009] as the first bitcoin transaction.

In his blog post, Dr. Wright claimed:

Since those early days, after distancing myself from the public persona that was Satoshi, I have poured every measure of myself into research. I have been silent, but I have not been absent.

He added:

Satoshi is dead. But this is only the beginning.

Three media organizations – the BBC, the Economist and GQ [GQ will publish an interview on its upcoming issue of its magazine], had access to Dr. Wright before he published his blog.

The technical proof provided by Dr. Wright in his messages are in addition to the computer scientist digitally signing messages using the same cryptographic keys linked to very first blocks of bitcoins that were mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, during an interview with the BBC.

During his demonstration, Dr. Wright stated:

These are the blocks used to send 10 bitcoins to Hal Finney in January [2009] as the first bitcoin transaction.

When asked why he had decided to come out as inventor of Bitcoin on his own accord, Dr. Wright said:

I didn’t decide. I had people decide this matter for me.

Dr. Wright claimed that reports and the media coverage surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto had made “life difficult” for his friends, family and employees, forcing him to publicly identify himself as the creator of Bitcoin.

Experts: Craig Steven Wright is the Inventor of Bitcoin

While his claims and the keys are undeniably going to be scrutinized and pored over during the coming days, two prominent Bitcoin veterans backed Dr. Wright’s claims.

Gavin Anderson, chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation and Lead Core Bitcoin Developer stated:

I believe Craig Steven Wright is the person who invented Bitcoin.

Describing a recent meeting where Andersen spent time with Dr. Wright over a couple of weeks ago, he added in a blog post:

After spending time with him I am convinced beyond a reasonable doubt: Craig Wright is Satoshi.

Jon Matonis, one of the founding directors of the Bitcoin Foundation also spent time with Dr. Wright in London and is convinced that Satoshi Nakamoto has indeed been found. He wrote:

During the London proof sessions, I had the opportunity to review the relevant data along three distinct lines: cryptographic, social, and technical. Based on what I witnessed, it is my firm belief that Craig Steven Wright satisfies all three categories.

Notably, Matonis also revealed that Dr. Wright had “signed and verified” a message with the same private key from the genesis block.

For cryptographic proof in my presence, Craig signed and verified a message using the private key from block #1 newly-generated coins and from block #9 newly-generated coins (the first transaction to Hal Finney).

With his public reveal as Satoshi Nakamoto, Dr. Wright added:

I’m going to do this [revealing himself to be the inventor of Bitcoin] once and once only. I’m going to come in front of that camera, once. I will never, ever be on a camera ever again. For any TV station, or media. Ever.

CCN.com will be covering this breaking story as it develops.

Featured image from Shutterstock.