Earlier this week, Australian Craig Wright offered what he called proof that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, months after we had identified him as a possible candidate. Almost immediately the crypto community assessed that the proof was "a scam." However, two respected members of the Bitcoin community—Jon Matonis, a former board member of the Bitcoin Foundation, and Gavin Andresen, one of Bitcoin's earliest programmers—said they had privately seen actual proof that Wright was Nakamoto. We spoke to Andresen, who described the method Wright used to convince him, telling us at the time that he was "still convinced [Wright's] Satoshi despite the really weird proof he’s put in his blog post," but admitting "it’s certainly possible I was bamboozled."

After that backlash, Wright promised on Tuesday that he would share "extraordinary proof" soon that would convince the rest of the world of what Andresen and Matonis apparently already believed.

Today, instead of doing that, an apology appears on his website, explaining that Wright isn't brave enough to continue on with his effort to prove he is Satoshi. Nowhere does he concede that he isn't Bitcoin's creator; rather, he apologizes to Andresen and Jon Matonis for the damage his flawed attempt at putting "years of anonymity behind" him, as he puts it, has done to their reputations.

He ends his note with the words, "And goodbye." It's a bizarre conclusion to a bizarre saga that, like most things Satoshi Nakamoto-related, leaves more questions than answers.

Here's the full note: