Jack Dorsey as Satoshi? These analysts note the coincidences.

Dow Jones
Nov 25

MW Jack Dorsey as Satoshi? These analysts note the coincidences.

By Steve Goldstein

Jack Dorsey, who wore a Satoshi T-shirt at the 2023 Super Bowl, was asked at an investor day if he is Satoshi Nakomoto.

The identity of Satoshi Nakomoto, who as a person or collective invented bitcoin, remains a mystery, but it's at least plausible that Jack Dorsey could have done it.

The current chief executive of Block (XYZ) and former CEO of Twitter, Dorsey's libertarian leanings and his advocacy of cryptocurrencies prompted that very blunt question to him at Square's investor day held last week.

"Jack, this probably is the most important question you'll ever get asked from the sell side - are you Satoshi Nakamoto? Thanks," asked Jeff Cantwell, an analyst at Seaport Research.

"On the Satoshi question, the most beautiful thing about bitcoin is that question does not matter at all anymore," Dorsey replied, according to a transcript compiled by FactSet.

He said it's now an open protocol taken over by a community. "And if it was important to Satoshi, there is a simple way they can prove who they are, so we'll wait for that day," he added.

That enigmatic response got the team at the brokerage Baird to look for coincidences between Dorsey and Satoshi.

They found a few - for instance, the first-ever post on the BitcoinTalk forum from Satoshi was Nov. 19, which also is Dorsey's birthday, and also the date of Block's investor day. "He may or may not be Satoshi, but it is his birthday today," Block CFO Amrita Ahuja said. The Baird team also noted key early bitcoin dates coinciding with the birthdays of Dorsey's parents.

The Baird team also noted that Dorsey was on the so-called "cypherpunk" mailing list as early as 1996, that he can program in C and in Python which both appeared in the early bitcoin codebase, and an early bitcoin address contains a sequence called "jD2m," which reportedly stands for Jack Dorsey 2 Mint, a reference to Mint Plaza where he lived.

The Baird team also noted a change in Satoshi mining activity, that coincide with the time he founded Block in Feb. 2009, and the time he visited Iraq with the State Department in April that year. Finally, they note reports that Satoshi in early 2009 accidentally logged into an Internet Relay Chat in January with an IP address indicating a California address, at a time when Dorsey lived in the Bay Area.

And finally, there's the point that Satoshi's 1 million bitcoins have never been moved, which is what Dorsey seems to be referencing with his comment that Satoshi's identity could be simply proved. Forbes puts Jack Dorsey's wealth at $4.7 billion, so he doesn't need to touch that stash that at present is worth some $87 billion.

Bitcoin (BTCUSD) on Tuesday was trading around $87,000, down 29% from its record high.

-Steve Goldstein

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 25, 2025 04:26 ET (09:26 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

At the request of the copyright holder, you need to log in to view this content

Disclaimer: Investing carries risk. This is not financial advice. The above content should not be regarded as an offer, recommendation, or solicitation on acquiring or disposing of any financial products, any associated discussions, comments, or posts by author or other users should not be considered as such either. It is solely for general information purpose only, which does not consider your own investment objectives, financial situations or needs. TTM assumes no responsibility or warranty for the accuracy and completeness of the information, investors should do their own research and may seek professional advice before investing.

Most Discussed

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10