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Interesting
Nov. 25th, 2013 09:04 amWarning: triggery for Bitcoins.
Part of the Bitcoin legend is that Bitcoins were proposed, complete with algorithms, by a "Satoshi Nakamoto". Nakamoto created a few coins, then disappeared forever.
Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir (yes, the Shamir, the one in RSA) have encountered evidence that suggests that Nakamoto and "Dread Pirate Roberts" are the same person. The current "Dread Pirate Roberts" --there's no evidence that there's actually been more than one-- is alleged to be Ross Ulbricht, who was arrested for running Silk Road, the darknet supplier of illegal stuff.
Actually, that explains a lot.
Part of the Bitcoin legend is that Bitcoins were proposed, complete with algorithms, by a "Satoshi Nakamoto". Nakamoto created a few coins, then disappeared forever.
Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir (yes, the Shamir, the one in RSA) have encountered evidence that suggests that Nakamoto and "Dread Pirate Roberts" are the same person. The current "Dread Pirate Roberts" --there's no evidence that there's actually been more than one-- is alleged to be Ross Ulbricht, who was arrested for running Silk Road, the darknet supplier of illegal stuff.
The two scientists have been exploring the web of financial transactions produced by bitcoin, the anonymous currency that has drawn the attention of both law enforcement and federal regulators in recent months. Their research is made possible by the fact that while bitcoin is designed to protect the anonymity of buyers and sellers, the actual transactions are public. Earlier this year, the researchers obtained a complete listing of all bitcoin transactions and have since been exploring the “graph” of those interactions in an attempt to gain statistical insights into user behavior in the anonymous financial market.
After Mr. Ulbricht was arrested last month, the scientists used public information to begin tracing Silk Road-related transactions. Among their discoveries was a particular transfer to an account controlled by Mr. Ulbricht from another that had been created in January 2009, during the very earliest days of the bitcoin network, which was set up the previous year.
Although the authors state that they cannot prove that that account belongs to the person who created the bitcoin currency, it is widely believed that the first accounts belong to a person who identifies himself as “Satoshi Nakamoto,” but who has remained anonymous and has not been publicly heard from since 2010.
Individual bitcoin is generated using a cryptographic algorithm that requires computer-processing power and that insures that each coin remains unique and cannot be copied.
...
In tracing various transactions made to and from Mr. Ulbricht’s account, the authors found an intriguing one involving the transfer of 1,000 bitcoin, which would have been worth $60,000 when it was made on March 20 of this year, but is now worth roughly $847,000.
They write: “Such a single large transfer does not represent the typical behavior of a buyer who opens an account on Silk Road in order to purchase some narcotics (such buyers are expected to make an initial deposit of tens or hundreds of dollars, and to top the account off whenever they buy additional merchandise). It could represent either large-scale activity on Silk Road, or some form of investment or partnership, but this is pure speculation.”
The mysterious account that made the investment had at one point accumulated 77,600 bitcoin, mostly through “mining” operations, an amount which would now be worth approximately $64 million.
“The short path we found suggests (but does not prove) the existence of a surprising link between the two mysterious figures of the bitcoin community, Satoshi Nakamoto and DPR,” the authors write, referring to Mr. Ulbricht as the Dread Pirate Roberts.
After Mr. Ulbricht was arrested last month, the scientists used public information to begin tracing Silk Road-related transactions. Among their discoveries was a particular transfer to an account controlled by Mr. Ulbricht from another that had been created in January 2009, during the very earliest days of the bitcoin network, which was set up the previous year.
Although the authors state that they cannot prove that that account belongs to the person who created the bitcoin currency, it is widely believed that the first accounts belong to a person who identifies himself as “Satoshi Nakamoto,” but who has remained anonymous and has not been publicly heard from since 2010.
Individual bitcoin is generated using a cryptographic algorithm that requires computer-processing power and that insures that each coin remains unique and cannot be copied.
...
In tracing various transactions made to and from Mr. Ulbricht’s account, the authors found an intriguing one involving the transfer of 1,000 bitcoin, which would have been worth $60,000 when it was made on March 20 of this year, but is now worth roughly $847,000.
They write: “Such a single large transfer does not represent the typical behavior of a buyer who opens an account on Silk Road in order to purchase some narcotics (such buyers are expected to make an initial deposit of tens or hundreds of dollars, and to top the account off whenever they buy additional merchandise). It could represent either large-scale activity on Silk Road, or some form of investment or partnership, but this is pure speculation.”
The mysterious account that made the investment had at one point accumulated 77,600 bitcoin, mostly through “mining” operations, an amount which would now be worth approximately $64 million.
“The short path we found suggests (but does not prove) the existence of a surprising link between the two mysterious figures of the bitcoin community, Satoshi Nakamoto and DPR,” the authors write, referring to Mr. Ulbricht as the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Actually, that explains a lot.
