On September 8, 2014, the email of the man behind bitcoin known as Satoshi Nakamoto was hacked by outsiders. This became known from experts associated with BitMEX.
According to their findings, three accounts associated with Satoshi Nakamoto were hacked during this period. Among them were accounts on the P2P Foundation forum and Sourceforge platform, as well as an email account on the GMX Mail service.
Observers noted the significance of the hacking of Nakamoto's email account. The #hacking of Nakamoto's email account was initially discovered by a BitcoinTalk forum moderator under the pseudonym Theymos. The moderator reported receiving an email from that address demanding #bitcoins.
Subsequently, a public message addressed to Nakamoto appeared on the P2P Foundation forum, as detailed in the BitMEX report. The message reported that Nakamoto's IP address had been leaked to the network, which was evidence of a hack.
Evidence of the hack was backed up by a report from bitcoin developer Peter Todd, who revealed that the hacker forwarded an email dating back to 2011.
News of the hack spread throughout the bitcoin community, sparking debate and casting doubt on the claims of the alleged creator of the mainstream cryptocurrency, who in March 2014 denied any connection to Dorian Nakamoto.
By that point, Satoshi Nakamoto had alienated himself from his colleagues and the community. His last public communication was documented on December 12, 2010.
Gregory Maxwell, one of the Bitcoin Core developers, urged the hacker not to reveal Nakamoto's identity. The hacker assured that revealing Nakamoto's identity was not their intention, acknowledging Nakamoto's intelligence.
Based on Maxwell's statements and additional information, BitMEX experts drew several conclusions regarding the hack:
- The hacker believed that multiple people had access to the compromised email account.
- The hack likely occurred via a password reset, with the hacker guessing Nakamoto's birth date, which the community speculated was April 5.
Satoshi Nakamoto's true identity remains a mystery. Developer and #fraudster Craig Wright briefly claimed the role, but legal proceedings disproved his claims.
