Cash News
Has the identity of Satoshi been found?
getty
This is a published version of our weekly Forbes Crypto Confidential newsletter. You can sign up to get Crypto Confidential as soon as it is published free in your inbox here.
Satoshi Unmasked?
The pseudonymous person or team behind Satoshi Nakamoto left the stage more than a decade ago. However, that has not stopped the curious from trying to reveal the true identity, and this week a new investigator threw his hat into the ring. His name is Cullen Hoback, and he directed Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mysterya new documentary from HBO. In the film, he tagged Peter Todd, a college student in 2008 when the Bitcoin whitepaper was published.
“What if the real reason for using the name Satoshi, for the anonymity, was so that people could take Bitcoin seriously, so they could believe it was created by [a famous cryptographer] and not some kid still in school,” Hoback said during the Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery documentary on HBO before putting his theory directly to Todd. For his part, Todd denied being the Bitcoin creator in the film, rejecting the case put forth by Hoback. “It’s ludicrous…This is going to be very funny when you put this into the documentary and a bunch of bitcoiners watch it.”
Unsurprisingly, Cullen Hoback thinks this matters very much. In an interview with CNN, the director points out that “Satoshi” continues to exert a huge degree of control, owning a million or so bitcoins. Given that there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins and that an estimated three to four million have been lost forever through lost wallets, “abandonments” and other causes, that’s an incredibly significant stake.
SEC Keeps Up The Pressure On Crypto
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler might be expected to leave his post with the new administration, regardless of who wins the election, but he is using his remaining time to maintain his focus on crypto. This week it was disclosed that Crypto.com, a Singaporean-based exchange, revealed a Wells Notice from the regulator, indicating a forthcoming enforcement action. While the details of the notice were not divulged, it is likely that the charges will echo lawsuits filed by the regulator against major U.S. exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, which broadly accuse the latter two platforms of selling unregistered securities (in the form of digital assets outside of bitcoin and ethereum).
Rather than waiting for any formal action, Crypto.com filed a lawsuit against the SEC. The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent what the company describes as an unlawful expansion of the SEC’s jurisdiction—led by its chair, Gary Gensler, to include secondary market sales of cryptographically secured digital assets. “We are doing this to protect the future of the crypto industry in the U.S., joining peers who are defending themselves and taking action against a misguided federal agency acting beyond its authority under the law.”
In addition, the regulator sued Cumberland DRW for failing to register as a broker dealer while it offered and sold more than $2 billion in crypto assets as securities. However, the market maker denied the claims, writing in a post on X, “We are not making any changes to our business operations or the assets in which we provide liquidity as a result of this action by the SEC. We are confident in our strong compliance framework and disciplined adherence to all known rules and regulations–even as they have been a moving target (it wasn’t long ago ETH
Ethereum
Sources: Forbes Digital Assets, CoinGecko. Prices as of 10:30 a.m. on October 11, 2024.
Binance Executive Denied Bail In Nigeria
According to reporting from CoinDesk, detained Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan was denied bail by a Nigerian judge, a family spokesperson said Friday. The exchange’s head of financial compliance has been detained since February in the West African country, where he is facing charges alongside the exchange of money laundering. While in prison, Gambaryan’s health has deteriorated as he has developed malaria, pneumonia and tonsillitis. He also briefly required the use of a wheelchair due to a herniated disc. The trial is set to resume on October 18. According to ReutersGambaryan’s wife, Yuki Gambaryan, said her husband should not be in detention because he was never a decision maker at Binance and she would continue to fight for his freedom. “I just pray that when he is finally released that the damage he is suffering is not permanent. I am exhausted and deeply disappointed,” she said in a statement.
ELSEWHERE:
The Endless Downfall Of A Crypto Power Couple [New York Times]
6 Things To Know About Cryptocurrency Rewards Credit Cards [Wall Street Journal]
Stripe Says Stablecoins Payments Made In More Than 70 Countries After Relaunch [Bloomberg]