Newsweek’s rebirth gets splash with flap over Bitcoin creator

Damian Dovarganes

Newsweek wanted its return to the newsstands to land with a splash, and it certainly did: Its cover article, purporting to unmask the founder of the digital currency Bitcoin, provoked a firestorm of commentary.

In featuring the Bitcoin story, Newsweek was taking a gamble in engaging a particularly frenzied audience. It was a risky bet.

Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto said later that day he is not the creator of bitcoin, adding further mystery to the story of how the world’s most popular digital currency came to be.

The denial came after Newsweek on Thursday published a 4,500-word cover story claiming Nakamoto is the person who wrote the computer code underpinnings of bitcoin.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Nakamoto, 64, denied he had anything to do with it and said he had never heard of bitcoin until his son told him he had been contacted by a Newsweek reporter three weeks ago.

Nakamoto acknowledged many of the details in Newsweek’s report were correct, including that he once worked for a defense contractor, and that his given name at birth was Satoshi.

But he strongly disputed the magazine’s assertion that he is “the face behind bitcoin.”

“I got nothing to do with it,” he said repeatedly.

Newsweek stands by its story, which kicked off the relaunch of its print edition after 15 months and reorganization under new ownership.

Newsweek writer Leah McGrath Goodman, who spent two months researching the story, told the AP: “I stand completely by my exchange with Mr. Nakamoto.

There was no confusion whatsoever about the context of our conversation —and his acknowledgment of his involvement in bitcoin.” Since bitcoin’s birth in 2009, the currency’s creator has remained a mystery. The person — or people — behind the digital currency’s inception have been known only as “Satoshi Nakamoto,” which many observers believed to be a pseudonym.

News Source: www.news-journal.com