Crypto Attorney Sues Department of Homeland Security in Bid to Unmask Satoshi Nakamoto
It's the latest in a string of efforts to reveal the identity of Bitcoin's creator
Exclusive: A cryptocurrency lawyer is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in an attempt to uncover the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive and pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Crypto In America has learned.
The lawsuit, filed in a D.C. District Court by James Murphy, better known by his followers as 'MetaLawMan' on X, is the latest in a series of efforts to uncover the identity of Bitcoin’s creator, a mystery that has captivated crypto enthusiasts since the token’s inception in 2009.
As Bitcoin has grown to become the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, with a market cap of over $1 trillion, the true identity of Nakamoto - who disappeared shortly after Bitcoin’s creation - remains unknown, but speculation has grown over the years about whether the figure behind the name is an individual or a group of people.
Murphy has enlisted legal firepower in the form of former Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Field, who specializes in Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation to assist Murphy in obtaining information he claims the DHS has so far withheld.
The crux of the lawsuit centers on claims made by DHS Special Agent Rana Saoud during a presentation at an industry conference in 2019.
According to the filing, Saoud revealed that the Department had identified and located the creator of Bitcoin, claiming it was not a single person but rather a group of four individuals. These individuals, she said, had been interviewed by DHS agents in California, where they explained exactly how Bitcoin works and why they created it.
To date, the DHS has never disclosed the identities of these individuals to the public.
“If the government does indeed have this information, as the DHS Special Agent has claimed, it should not be withheld from the public,” Murphy told Crypto In America. “Bitcoin has become enormously popular among investors around the globe and consequently there is intense interest in the identity of Bitcoin’s creator.”
Murphy is banking on the Trump administration’s promise of greater government transparency in the hopes that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem will agree to reveal Satoshi’s identity.
"My hope is that Secretary Noem will embrace transparency in this instance and share this information voluntarily," Murphy said. "However, if she does not, we are prepared to pursue this litigation as far as necessary to solve this mystery."
A spokesperson for the DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Unveiling the mysterious Nakamoto has sparked a divide in the Bitcoin community, with some letting their curiosity get the better of them, and others fearing that revealing the creator(s) could tarnish the lore surrounding Bitcoin — a symbol of technological revolution and freedom from government control. Still others worry that unmasking Satoshi could undermine Bitcoin’s decentralized nature.
Last year, an HBO documentarian made waves in the Bitcoin community when his film Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery claimed to have identified Nakamoto as Peter Todd, a bitcoin core developer. Todd denied the claims, calling the filmmaker “irresponsible” for potentially putting his life in danger.
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