Bitcoin Week: Satoshi Nakamoto Found, Dollar Ban Proposed, Jimmy Wales

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Wow, what a week. We had some of the biggest stories in the history of Bitcoin. Let’s start at the top.

Satoshi Nakamoto is found! Or so Newsweek would have us believe. The aging media publication went “all in” on this story, bringing their physical magazine publication back from the dead for an exclusive. Journalist Leah McGrath Goodman spent two months searching for Satoshi and found a Japanese man in California named … Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto.

There was an uproar in response to Goodman’s article because the reporter shared personal details about Dorian Nakamoto, including photos of his residence and car, and names of his family members. Further, many asserted the evidence used in the article was circumstantial.

Gavin Andresen, chief scientist at the Bitcoin foundation, penned an open letter to Goodman, saying he was “disappointed [Newsweek] chose to publish enough personal information that people can easily find Dorian and his family.”

It was a feeding frenzy by the mainstream media. Dorian was taken out to lunch the Associated Press, and a band of reporters chased the duo through the streets of LA hoping for a quote or photograph.

Later that day, as if things could not get any more exciting in the Bitcoin world, the REAL Satoshi Nakamoto purported came out of hiding to clear Dorian’s name. He replied to his original 2008 thread where he had published the Bitcoin whitepaper to say, simply: “I am not Dorian Nakamoto.”

While the world was still trying to process the discovery, or false discovery, of Satoshi Nakamoto, large amounts of Bitcoin began moving on the Blockchain. 200,000 Bitcoin, or more than $120 million, was moved in a single block, then moved again. Some online sleuths connected these funds to MtGox causing a variety of allegations and suspicions.

Outside of the Satoshi news, there were other exciting developments in Bitcoin this past week.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-W. Va) called on regulators to ban Bitcoin, saying it was “disruptive to our economy.” This legislator is an exception in what has generally been a spirit of understanding and discussion among federal and state authorities.

In response, Congressman Jared Polis from Colorado wrote a tongue-and-cheek letter calling on the government to ban the U.S. Dollar, citing greater levels of economic disruption and illicit activity using dollars.

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, created a personal Bitcoin wallet and was inundated with gifts that will find their way to the Wikimedia foundation. He discussed the topic on Reddit.

If you wanted to buy a cup of coffee with bitcoins today, the point-of-sale register would quote a price of 0.0027760 BTC. For early adopters of Bitcoin, that’s easy enough to understand. But what about normal consumers? A new proposal, called BitNote, is looking to solve this through a new currency symbol and a mathematical formula to make that cup of coffee seem more affordable.

Popular iPhone app Fancy removed Bitcoin payments due to Apple’s request.

And finally, the “Snowden Phone,” an phone designed for ultra privacy was launched. FreedomPop, makers of the phone, allow you to pay for it in Bitcoin.

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