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Should Satoshi decide to reveal his or her true identity, how can one know the person is the real creator of Bitcoin, rather than a person who hacked the forum login, email address or the like? In other words, what methods of authentication did Satoshi use that could clearly identify him or her?

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  • While this is not strictly a Bitcoin question, it does lead to discussion of techniques that are related to Bitcoin in terms of proof of identity.
    – Gary
    Apr 14, 2012 at 15:25

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He has a PGP public key which he can use to sign things.

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    Let's hope he didn't lose his hard drive on some electricity hiccup or something, then.
    – Aviad Ben Dov
    Apr 13, 2012 at 18:22
  • @AviadBenDov I'm sure he had it backed up.
    – BinaryMage
    Apr 14, 2012 at 0:04
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    If anyone understands that data doesn't exist unless it's in more than one place, it's Satoshi Nakamoto.
    – Gary
    Apr 14, 2012 at 15:23
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He can prove that he has the private key matching the address used in the genesis block.

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  • Isn't that used to sign the Alert messages by the current developers?
    – ThePiachu
    Apr 15, 2012 at 12:22
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    @ThePiachu No. That's a different key.
    – theymos
    Apr 15, 2012 at 15:35

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