According to Crypto Eri, a blogger from the XRP community, Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of Bitcoin (BTC), the original cryptocurrency, was aware of Ripple in 2009. Eri based her arguments on the character of Ryan Fugger, who invented a decentralized payment platform called RipplePay in 2004. Fugger eventually handed over the idea to Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb.
The XRP blogger’s claims are supported by Ripple CTO (Chief Technology Officer) David Schwartz. Schwartz claims that Fugger “didn’t have the technology to make a decentralized asset.” Hence, Schwartz claims Fugger built a decentralized system from several centralized assets. The assets could interoperate, Schwartz added.
However, in 2016, Fugger claimed via his Twitter account that his Ripple never included XRP. Moreover, the idea was not his.
XRP falls again
2022 has unfolded as one of the worst years for crypto and the general finance industry. Almost all major cryptocurrencies have lost over 50% of their worth throughout the year.
At press time, XRP was trading at $0.365299, down by 4.2% in the last 24 hours. Moreover, the coin has fallen by 3.2% in the past hour. The fall is most likely due to uncertainties regarding the SEC vs. Ripple lawsuit, the verdict for which is pending. Moreover, the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike might have impacted investor sentiment.
More claims about Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity
In a recent blog post, Martin Shkreli claims that Paul Le Roux is Satoshi Nakamoto. Shkreli claims to have decyphered a signature from one of the first Bitcoin transactions. According to Shkreli, “any decryption program” can be used. Paul Calder Le Roux is a former programmer and former criminal cartel boss. He was also an informant to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It’s interesting to note that the idea that Le Roux is Satoshi has been raised before. There were various indications that Le Roux was Satoshi in 2019, according to a Wired story. However, no concrete evidence has been offered.
Shkreli is a discredited hedge fund manager, biotech entrepreneur, and convicted criminal. Shkreli was accused of two charges of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to conduct securities fraud in 2017 and was found guilty.
The blog states,
The following is the Bitcoin wallet Hal Finney used to receive the first Bitcoin transfer from Satoshi.
1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxXtWAWgFt5Jvm3
The following signature
HM7vpPSUbNsfDHRX6gv8xxWcVNHEc/3pOk0YrVehaGoUdbWizznfzOdELkLd1EjSXsW1oE5vHAkNAPzrAVzhuoI=
decrypts to:
—–BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE—–
This Transaction was made by Paul Leroux to Hal Finney on January 12, 2009 #bitcoin
—–END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE—–
However, the Bitcoin (BTC) community is not sold on Shkreli’s claims. At press time, BTC was trading at $17,474.86, down by 1.4% in the last 24 hours.