Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto thanks bitcoin community: ‘I want to hug you’
For a guy who said he was sick of all the media attention, Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto sure does seem to like his 15 minutes of fame.
On Tuesday, the Temple City man who last month found himself in the midst of a media frenzy after Newsweek called him the creator of bitcoin, appeared in a YouTube video to thank his supporters.
“Good afternoon, bitcoin community,” Nakamoto, holding up a hard copy of the Newsweek cover story, says in the three-minute video. “Thank you very much for your support throughout this ordeal that I’m still fighting.”
QUIZ: How much do you know about bitcoin?
The 64-year-old appeared in the video with Andreas M. Antonopoulos, an entrepreneur and coder who last month started a fund online for people to donate money to Nakamoto. As of today, those donations -- made in bitcoins, of course -- amounted to nearly 48 bitcoins, or more than $23,000.
“I’m very thankful for you, all these people, in U.S., Europe and Asia and Africa and South America who supported me throughout,” Nakamoto said in the sometimes rambling video. “I want to hug you, this 2,000 of you, who donated. I’m very happy, each one gives me a tick in my heart.”
He also once again reiterated that he did not create bitcoin.
“I am not Satoshi Nakamoto,” he said. “My name is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto and of course if I was the creator, I would never use my real name. So from that point of view, I’m sure you guys would know, that Satoshi Nakamoto is not me. But Leah thinks so and Newsweek said so, but it’s not true.”
Last month’s Newsweek story, by senior writer Leah McGrath Goodman, led to a bizarre media circus on Nakamoto’s front lawn and a semi-comical car chase through multiple cities as Nakamoto rode in a Prius driven by an Associated Press reporter trying to elude other reporters.
At the AP offices in downtown L.A., he denied that he was the bitcoin creator to a Times reporter as he climbed into an elevator. All he wanted was a free lunch, he said.
The Newsweek story quickly sparked an angry backlash among members of the bitcoin community, with some vowing retribution against the reporter and others insisting that she had the wrong man.
Several days later, Nakamoto hired a law firm and issued a statement saying he wanted to “clear my name.”
ALSO:
Bitcoin revelation under scrutiny
Will the real creator of bitcoin please stand up?
Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox says ‘no prospects’ for restart of business
