[dfabulich]

Bitcoin received early support from high-reputation folks in the cryptography community, including Hal Finney and Nick Szabo. (As a result, some people thought that one or both of them were Nakamoto.)

Regardless of who Nakamoto actually was, it does appear that Finney and Szabo played a similar role that Sokal did in this story; getting support from high-rep folks was essential to getting Bitcoin off the ground.