Satoshi Nakamoto Was Concerned Over Bitcoin as an Investment: Report

• Satoshi Nakamoto’s earlier collaborator, Martti Malmi, previously shared a 120-page email correspondence between the two.
• Colin Wu highlights Nakamoto’s concerns over identifying Bitcoin as an investment.
• The emails suggest that Nakamoto preferred not to promote anonymity.

Amidst controversies regarding the identity of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, 120-page email correspondence between Nakamoto and his earlier collaborator, Martti Malmi, shed light on the early days of Bitcoin creation.

Recently, Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu, on his official page known on X as Wu Blockchain, shared insights on the emails shared by Malmi earlier this year, initially produced as evidence against Craig Wright’s claim to be the original Bitcoin founder.

As per Colin Wu’s X post, the conversation between Nakamoto and Malmi indicated Nakamoto’s concerns over identifying  Bitcoin as an investment. In a previous X post, Wu highlighted Nakamoto’s earlier warning against Bitcoin’s significant energy consumption. In addition, Nakamoto’s concern over “labeling Bitcoin as an investment” also gained traction at the time. His recent post further stated,

Bitcoin POW consumes less energy than the traditional banking system. POW is the only solution that can make a P2P electronic cash system work without a trusted third party.

Further, Wu pinpointed Nakamoto’s insistence on not promoting “anonymity.” Nakamoto’s email read,

I think we should de-emphasize the anonymous angle. With the popularity of bitcoin addresses instead of sending by IP, we can’t give the impression it’s automatically anonymous. It’s possible to be pseudonymous, but you have to be careful.

On February 23, Martti Malmi took to X to draw the community’s attention to the 2009-2011 email correspondence between Malmi and Nakamoto. He added that he wasn’t initially “comfortable” with making the emails public, but Wright’s trial has forced him to produce it as evidence.

However, the emails do not stand as significant evidence to prove Satoshi Nakamoto’s real identity. But, the conversation could significantly provide insights into Bitcoin creator’s vision and concerns.