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A new book, The Age of Cryptocurrency (2015, Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey -- the two of them are Wall Street Journal reporters) is out and available at Barnes & Noble everywhere. The book is good, but I will discuss that more elsewhere and later.
Vigna and Casey wrote several pages on the hunt for Satoshi's identity. A number of people were thought of as possibly the man (?) himself.
Vigna & Casey also wrote that the Bitcoin community typically was against this search, arguing that we should leave him alone, respect his privacy. And there is an excellent case for that.
But, the authors also are looking ahead, looking down the road. To be accepted in a massive way by society, the masses must be convinced that BTC is legitimate and secure. An anonymous founder does not inspire confidence among the masses...
A snippet from Vigna & Casey (emphasis mine):
"It might even be better for bitcoin if Satoshi's identity is eventually revealed. Initially, the absence of an identifiable founder meant enforcement agents couldn't find Satoshi and shut down his fledgling project before it gained attraction. Now it's a different phase. More than six years into bitcoin's existence, with a global community formed around it, the project is looking to undertake the ultimate community expansion exercise and embrace the wide, all-encompassing "mainstream." For that exercise, the lack of transparency over bitcoin's founding is a hindrance. It feeds doubts in the minds of government officials and lawmakers, making friendly regulation that might smooth bitcoin's development a harder sell for cryptocurrency lobbyists. The same goes for the general public. Coming clean would put to bed conspiracy theories that bitcoin was created by the CIA or the NSA or the IMF, or that the whole thing is an elaborate scam."
That's a great excerpt, thank you for that.
Have you read their new book and if so, what did you think of it overall?