[memebox3v]

I think its much more likely it was an accademic working around this area in the years leading up to bitcoin. Staying anonymous is an extremely clever and mature thing to do, I'd say whoever it is is 30 years old +. Possibly someone notable in the field but I'd say more likely not, it's a radical idea, unconventional thinkers have a hard time in academia in general. So my wild unfounded guess is: someone who did a phd in something similar, worked within a university for a while, left for the corporate world. Got bored and couldnt stop thinking about the ideas from his phd. Ruminated for 1 - 10 years and finally put pen to paper.