Bitcoin Community Donates $23,000 to Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto after Newsweek Saga

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, who had denied media claims that he was the creator of bitcoin, has received thousands of dollars in donations from the backers of the popular digital currency.

Nakamoto received a wallet of 47.925 bitcoins, valued at about $23,300 (£13,800, €16,800), from members of the bitcoin community as part of a fundraising effort after a Newsweek report named him as the creator of bitcoin.

In a video, he thanked the bitcoin community, reaffirmed his denial and vowed that he would join the ranks of bitcoin users.

Nakamoto, a Japanese-American living in Los Angeles, was named as the creator of bitcoin in an in-depth exposé in Newsweek, which is owned by IBT Media, the parent company of IBTimes UK. Reporters from other media rushed to get follow-up interviews with him over the claims and he finally gave an interview to Associated Press in which he denied links with bitcoin.

He said his statements quoted in Newsweek had been misinterpreted. "It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I'm not involved now. That's not what I meant. I want to clarify that," he said.

"I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," Nakamoto had told Newsweek reporter Leah McGrath Goodman when she questioned about his role in the bitcoin project.

"It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."

Bitcoin supporters led by Blockchain chief security officer Andreas Antonopoulos began a fundraising effort on Dorian's behalf. The campaign collected donations totalling 47.92 bitcoins in 1,969 transactions.

"If this person is not Satoshi, then these funds will serve as a 'sorry for what happened to you'," Antonopoulos wrote in a post on the Reddit social media website on 8 March."

Satoshi Nakamoto is widely believed to be a pseudonym for a programmer or group of programmers who compiled initial source code for bitcoin. The creator/creators subsequently handed over the code to the open-source world.

Bitcoin is currently promoted and guided by a Seattle-based advocacy group, the Bitcoin Foundation.