HAS another Satoshi bitten the dust? Only 90 minutes after Craig Wright, an Australian businessman and computer scientist, had posted online what he claimed to be proof that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, it was debunked as fake on Reddit, a website. Instead of providing a digital signature, which would show that he is indeed Mr Nakamoto (because only he could have the cryptographic key to generate it), he posted a string of numbers that is publicly available and can be copied and pasted by anybody who knows where to look.

In our earlier article on Mr Wright’s self-outing, which went live at 8am this morning, we pointed out several reasons for scepticism, prime among them the fact that he refused to provide us with additional proof that he is Mr Nakamoto. If there is cause to give his claim some credence, it is partly because Gavin Andresen, Mr Nakamoto’s successor as the leading developer of the bitcoin software, had confirmed in an interview that he thought Mr Wright’s proof was valid and that he believed “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he is Mr Nakamoto. At a blockchain conference in New York today Mr Andresen said that he still believes that Mr Wright is Mr Nakamoto.

The onus is now squarely on Mr Wright to provide better evidence for his claim. We have again asked Mr Wright to provide additional information so we can independently verify that he is in possession of the cryptographic keys that would prove that he is Mr Nakamoto. We have requested that he provide a corrected version of his initial proof. And we have asked him to use private keys he supposedly has in his possession to sign the first paragraph of our first article, including the date, which would be even better proof of his identity.

We will update you once we have received a reply.