Douglas Jackson’s first meeting of E-gold founders may have revealed the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. The question that arises is: Did Satoshi Nakamoto really work on E-Gold? If so, Peter Thiel believes he has a way to clarify the identity of Bitcoin’s (BTC) creator.
Peter Thiel tells Miami where to look for Satoshi
For starters, be careful not to confuse E-gold with Elrond’s eGLD. Indeed, E-gold was both the name of one of the first digital private currencies and the name of the company that issued it. This electronic currency was backed by physical gold and was created by Douglas Jackson, an American oncologist.
PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel believes he may have a clue as to how to find Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, known only by his pseudonym. As a reminder, he disappeared from the radar 2 years after mining the very first block of BTC in January 2009.
The brilliant billionaire Peter Theil formulated his theory around the very first meeting of the E-Gold founders in February 2000, where about 200 people gathered around a beach in Anguilla to devise a strategy to promote a brand new monetary system that would challenge central banks.
In intent, it’s hard not to see very strong similarities to what Bitcoin is today. However, E-gold is a digital gold currency that finally ceased operations in 2007 after its founders were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Peter Thiel spoke at a cryptocurrency conference in Miami on Wednesday, referring to the founders of E-Gold:
“I met them on the beach in Anguilla in February 2000. My theory about who Satoshi was was that Satoshi was on that beach in Anguilla.”
He further explained:
“We were starting the revolution against central banks on the beach in Anguilla. We were going to make PayPal interoperable with E-gold and blow up all the central banks.”
E-gold’s abysmal failure, the beginning of BTC’s birth?
The failure of E-Gold (as well as the conviction of its creators) may have given Satoshi the foresight to remain anonymous when designing its successor, Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin was the answer to E-Gold, and Satoshi learned that you had to be anonymous and you didn’t have to have a company.”
Peter Thiel
Not everyone is convinced that Nakamoto was behind the first electronic payment protocols. Dustin D. Trammell, one of the first cypherpunk to operate BTC, for example, told Coin Telegraph that Nakamoto lacked bias in the implementation of new technologies, implying that they approached the project with a new perspective.
Nakamoto’s 2008 white paper gave birth to the cryptocurrency industry as we know it today. A multi-trillion dollar industry with tens of thousands of digital assets that want to find their way to the coveted Top 10. Bitcoin (BTC) is still number 1, in the midst of a historic week, having reached a new all-time high above $67,000.
