Back Rejects Todd as Satoshi Nakamoto, Traces Bitcoin to 1997 Cypherpunk Research

Blockstream's Adam Back has disputed claims that developer Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. This argument resurfaced after Todd mentioned discussing Bitcoin-like systems with Back and Hal Finney as a teenager.

Back traced the concept of Bitcoin to a 1997 cypherpunks mailing list thread, where decentralized money built on proof of work was first discussed. He pointed out that his own Hashcash system, which he wrote in 1997 to fight email spam, later anchored Bitcoin's mining and was cited by Satoshi in the original paper.

Back argued that solving the double-spending problem and fusing scattered ideas into one working system was Nakamoto's real feat. He likened the protocol to the Pythagorean theorem and DNA, saying that it exists in a narrow design space where tweaks can cause it to fail.