HACKER Q&A
📣 keepamovin

What if the NSA is Satoshi Nakamoto (anagram of I AM A HOST TO NSA OK)?


They, and more broadly the US defense/intelligence orgs at the time were working on things to enable covert communications and commerce. Such as encrypted messaging apps, and TOR. These tools can be useful for supporting agents.

The NSA had the capability, and the motivation. How plausible is this theory?

There's also the anagram

I AM A HOST TO NSA OK

And this paper from 1996: How to make a mint: The Cryptography of Anonymous Electronic Cash, Laurie Law, Susan Sabett, Jerry Solinas, NSA Office of Information Security Research and Technology, Cryptology Division, https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/money/nsamint/nsamint.htm

  👤 honestNSA Accepted Answer ✓
I’m happy someone pointed out that the NSA has the resources and ability and incentives to create and control crypto currencies. Similar to how they cracked German and Japanese codes during WWII, when the big fiscal crisis begins, I predict the shoe will drop.
👤 mytailorisrich
Certainly a better way to make money for covert ops than cocaine.
👤 meristohm
If it isn't so, some at the NSA might be kicking themselves for not having done it.
👤 yostrovs
Bitcoin was probably created by NVIDIA to give greater purpose to their graphics cards.
👤 bell-cot
> How plausible is this theory?

Points to consider:

- How easily could a real "Satoshi Nakamoto", working alone, perform the tasks which mainstream Bitcoin history attributes to him?

- How many vaguely-similar-to-founding-Bitcoin things are known to have been done by reclusive/secretive loners?

- How similar is "secretly founding Bitcoin" to known or reasonably suspected operations done by the NSA, or similar intel agencies?

- Why would NSA management sign off on a pseudonym that was such a convenient anagram?

- Given some of the history - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto#Characteristi... - why aren't you asking "What if GCHQ is Satoshi Nakamoto?".

- How useful is Bitcoin, really, for the Western intelligence community? Vs. various "former Communist Block" countries.

👤 ano-ther
Well, they even have the right abbreviation :-)