In 2008, the website bitcoin.org went online and unveiled a whitepaper written by Satoshi Nakamoto, detailing the concept behind a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. Some in the cryptocurrency world believed Nakamoto was actually Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, an elderly Japanese-American and former computer engineer, but Dorian flat-out denied the allegation.

One person who claimed not only to use Satoshi Nakamoto as a pseudonym but also to be the actual creator of Bitcoin was Craig Wright (pictured above), an Australian computer scientist. Wright tried to prove his claims by attempting to cash out coins using private keys only the real Satoshi Nakamoto would have had access to, but then he suspiciously backed out.

Elon Musk posited that Satoshi Nakamoto was not one person but an amalgamation of tech companies Samsung, Toshiba, Nakamichi, and Motorola. While there's little evidence supporting that theory, Musk also speculated that cryptographer and computer scientist Nick Szabo (pictured above) might be the inventor — but Szabo consistently denied this.

Perhaps there’s a good reason the statue of Satoshi erected in Budapest, Hungary, came with neutral features, as it's supposed to represent the average person. While the search continues, the possibility remains that the anonymity of Satoshi was part of a long-term plan from the beginning, aiming to keep the focus on those that hold and use Bitcoin, rather than its originator.