Bitcoin’s creator has hidden behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto for 17 years. But a trail of clues buried deep in crypto lore led to a 55-year-old computer scientist named Adam Back.
By John CarreyrouWith Dylan Freedman John Carreyrou spent a year digging through thousands of decades-old internet postings in search of Bitcoin’s creator. April 8, 2026
One evening in the fall of 2024, my wife and I were sitting in traffic on the Long Island Expressway when, tired of listening to the jazz-funk station I often played on our drives, she switched to a podcast.
It was “Hard Fork,” the New York Times tech show, and the hosts were discussing a new HBO documentary claiming to have unmasked Bitcoin’s pseudonymous inventor, Satoshi Nakamoto.
I was instantly riveted. I had long considered the question of Satoshi’s true identity one of our age’s great enigmas and had poked at it before without success. Two years earlier, I had even spent several ...
“There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always—do not forget this, Winston—always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever.” ~ George Orwell, 1984
The Future of AI Agents: Autonomous Intelligence on the Blockchain
AI agents are rapidly evolving from simple chatbots into autonomous systems capable of reasoning, planning, and executing complex tasks with minimal human intervention. When combined with blockchain technology, these agents gain something revolutionary: verifiable identity, immutable records, and programmable economics.
The Convergence of AI and Blockchain
Blockchain provides AI agents with: - Persistent Identity: An agent's actions can be tied to a verifiable on-chain identity, creating accountability and trust. - Autonomous Economy: Smart contracts enable agents to own assets, receive payments, and participate in economic activities without intermediaries. - Immutable Audit Trail: Every action an agent takes can be recorded on-chain, creating transparent, verifiable history. - Decentralized Governance: DAOs allow AI agents to participate in collective decision-making alongside humans.