[wolfgke]

The article gives one answer: Satoshi owns lots of bitcoins. The article mentions 1.1M BTC. At the current rate this is about 500M US$. I think lots of people are eager for this amount of money. Finding out who legitimately owns this money could have a large influence on the exchange rate of bitcoin. Also if these BTCs would be "let free" this could even destroy bitcoin - a lot of power.

Also the more philosophical argument: At the moment there is a large controversy in the bitcoin community about whether the blocksize should be increased or not. If we found out who Satoshi is and can provide evidence what blocksize is nearer to Satoshi's "original vision" this could change the balance of power in the Bitcoin community.

TLDR: It is about money and power.

[bobwaycott]

Okay, so this is kind of what I've been assuming.

So, why would discovering the real-life identity impact the exchange rate? What exactly would be different if Satoshi stepped out on an aircraft carrier with a big "Mission Accomplished" banner today?

I find the philosophical argument fascinating. It's like a bunch of Antonin Scalias arguing about the need for a strict constructionist view of the Founder's vision, to then find a foothold for draping it around their own subjective views for legitimacy? I had no idea shit got this real in the Bitcoin world.

[wolfgke]

> So, why would discovering the real-life identity impact the exchange rate?

If we came to conclusion that Satoshi was a "I mined lots of early blocks who gave a really high block reward. And you all were all parts of this 'Ponzi scheme' which made me rich" kind of person - I can image quite well the consequences for the BTC exchange rate.

If we found out that Bitcoin was an experiment by some CS genius that got a little bit out of control in scope, the trust many have in the Bitcoin protocol (reflected by the exchange rate) would probably decrease, since people could conclude that Bitcoin wasn't as thought-through as many Bitcoin advocates want the world to believe.

On the other hand, if we concluded that Satoshi was some computer scientist whose expertise simply rather lies in cryptography and who secluded himself from Bitcoin simply for the reason that he knows that the next steps will need an expert for scaling of systems for which he will be no help, but he is sure the further development of Bitcoin is in good hand, this would probably increase the trust people have in Bitcoin and thus increase the exchange rate.

I could write down lots of other fictional examples, but I think the idea is clear.

[informatimago]

Indeed, several sci fi books and movies can be written until revelation of the actual Satoshi. :-)

[bobwaycott]

That's a great response, and extremely helpful for understanding what's going on from the outside. Thank you very much for taking the time to explain.