So finally, Satoshi Nakamoto, the man behind the Bitcoin phenomenon has been identified. For long Bitcoin has been considered something built by a Japanese whiz kid who used the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto. (Learn more about Bitcoin)
Leah McGrath Goodman, a reporter for the Newsweek magazine after months of investigation uncovered the man behind Bitcoins.
What surprised most people is that Satoshi is 64 years old and is a Japanese American living in Los Angeles for years, has worked on classified stuff for the defense industry and something of a mathematical genius.
Apparently even his family didn’t know.
So what’s the learning for entrepreneurs from this amazing man called Satoshi Nakamoto:
- For a man of his age Satoshi Nakamoto was very passionate about his ideas and making them happen. He wrote a 9 page proposal on the Electronic cash payment and posted it on an internet forum. He is also passionate about Model trains.
Age is never a barrier to your passion
- He was a very private person and his past experiences in working for the government made him trust the government even less. He made all attempts to remain anonymous even as he went about converting his proposals into an actual currency.
- He knew when to let go. Over time as more people joined the project of building of Bitcoin he started dropped off and stopped communicating with the other project members. Whether he dropped off on his own or he was spooked by something is not yet know. What is known is that as more and more members started building and developing Bitcoins it started to gain increased acceptance.
Learn when to let go and have other capable people drive decisions
- He helped share the money. In his exchanges with Andresen, the Chief Scientist of Bitcoins he says
“I wish you wouldn’t keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure,” Nakamoto wrote to Andresen. “The press just turns that into a pirate currency angle. Maybe instead make it about the open source project and give more credit to your dev contributors; it helps motivate them.” — Source Newsweek Magazine
Today developers around the world have shared in the wealth that has been created by the Bitcoin phenomenon.
Sharing the rewards is as important in scaling your venture as making it successful
- Satoshi Nakamoto himself is supposed to be worth millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins that has been untouched even when the value of a Bitcoin was worth $1200.
Keep yourself grounded; if you are passionate, it almost never is about the money.
There will be more lessons to learn as additional details trickle out about his life but Bitcoin will now probably never ever be the mysterious and rebellious online currency that promised to taken on the might of the banks and the governments worldwide.
