Who Has Copyrighted the Bitcoin Whitepaper?

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• The Bitcoin whitepaper was authored by the famously pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto
• Five individuals have sought copyright ownership through the US Copyright Office
• Could any of these five really be the man (or woman) himself?

It’s a fact that most people in the Bitcoin space would be interested to know who Satoshi Nakamoto is. The Bitcoin whitepaper has been combed through for hints about its author’s identity, but nothing of any value has emerged. What you may not know, however, is that five individuals have made claims to own the Bitcoin whitepaper through the US copyright office, so can we learn anything from these filings?

Asus The Famous Five

Satoshi Nakamoto did not file a copyright claim when the whitepaper was released into the wild on October 31, 2008, but this hasn’t stopped five people from putting their name to its creation through official channels:

• Craig Wright
• Jurgen Etienne Guido, Paris (two applications)
• Arthur van Pelt, Japan
• Wei Liu, US
• Satoshi Nakamoto, US

Two of these names may be familiar to you, depending on your level of interest. Satoshi pretender Craig Wright started the trend in April 2019, claiming that he had been awarded the copyright to the Bitcoin whitepaper as the prelude to a litany of disastrous libel cases, all of which ended up costing him dear, reputationally and financially.

It turned out that the copyright office made only a cursory inspection of any evidence he might have put forward, and awarded him copyright mainly because he was the first to have tried.

Since then, four others have joined the ‘race’ to lay claim to the Bitcoin whitepaper. These individuals all have differing rationales and levels of authenticity behind their claims, with noted Craig Wright skeptic Arthur van Pelt making his application purely to prove that almost anyone could do what Wright had done.

As for the others, Jurgen Guido claims to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto (with no evidence); Wei Liu, CEO of crypto fund MarvelousPeach Capital, told CoinDesk that he “filed it just to let people know anyone can register a copyright. Everyone can be Satoshi Nakamoto”; and nothing is known about ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, who filed an address in Tokyo, Japan.

Asus Would the Real Satoshi Pull This Stunt?

When considering if the real Satsohi Nakamoto is hidden among the list of five ‘candidates’, consider that Nakamoto went to pains to keep his identity hidden—is he really likely to suddenly reveal his name and address to the world just to claim the copyright of the whitepaper?

The answer is a resounding ‘No’.