Maxwell, an early contributor to bitcoin protocol on software collaboration site GitHub, has doubts about some of the evidence cited by the publications in naming Wright.
“I’ve reviewed some of the evidence being used, and much of it is clearly fabricated,” Maxwell, who is also chief technology officer at cryptocurrency innovation firm Blockstream, said by e-mail. “It is unlikely that the evidence which cannot yet be shown to be true or false has merit.”
Previous Leads
This is not the first time a publication claimed to have found the elusive inventor. The New York Times and New Yorker magazine have both tried to find whomever is behind the pseudonym. In a cover story last year, Newsweek identified the real Satoshi Nakamoto as a California physicist, who denied the report.
Some fans would prefer Nakamoto’s true identity remain an enigma.
“The cloud of mystique surrounding bitcoin’s creation makes it all the more interesting,” Alex Waters, CEO of bitcoin payment processor Coin.co, said by e-mail. “That being said, I think the technology stands on its own as a product of great human achievement regardless of who held the pen to the white paper.”