WHERE IS SATOSHI NAKAMOTO?

                             From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14      4142    15512       1151        189     712              

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar     2        1989      9490        1726       110      194

April   6          906     11787         4211       631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 

June   1         287    10637         2346      3205       95

 July   7          251      8440        1595        817      411

Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532     423 

Sept   1        1480    10470          703        505      235

          8        1700      9836          250        339     253

        14        1934      9001          709        281      300

        22       2228      9326          839        279      124

        29        2190      8859         643        309      108

Oct    5        1811       7495          686        285     103

          6        2102       8255         543        315       59

        12        1819       7544         201        249       37 

        19        2005      7528         401        160        80 

        26        1451       7535         409        584       53

        27       1594       8671         433        734        62 

Nov   3        1436       7830        186        458        23

        10        1493      8366         264        362        48

        17        1416      8440         374        470        11

        24        1594      8270         176        396        22 

        25          306      7154         281        488      114

Dec    1        1633      8475        266         477       28

Summary:

• Clearly, those two low COVID-19 new deaths figures of last week for the U.S. were anomalous, and unexplainable.
• Also, if the Omicron variant will begin to show new deaths, it will be in a week or two.
• In any event, the new deaths for South Africa was somewhat low.
• The U.S. led the world in new cases yesterday with 120,441.  #2 was Germany with 71,887 and #3 the UK at 48,081.

Way back in 2013 I posted on Bitcoins.  To quote:

There is a digital currency, a dream of libertarians, only found on the world wide web, and is called bitcoin.  It was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, who placed 1,624,250 bitcoins on the virtual block, and, apparently, kept around a million, now worth $450 million.  Nakamoto then disappeared, passing on the reins to Gavin Andresen.  Who is Nakamoto?  No one knows.  Well, we can eliminate Zorro, but perhaps keep Uncle Sam as a prospect.  At the top left is Andresen, who says he is not Nakamoto.

So how much are Nakamoto's coins now worth?  More than $60 billion.  Who is Nakamoto and where is he?  Said the World Street Journal this week:

In an age in which it is hard to be anonymous, Nakamoto remains a ghost.

Wikipedia suggests that the name is pseudonymous of one or more people who created the bitcoin.  However they show this graphic to the right, with his history:

• Began working on the bitcoin in 2007.
• On 18August2008 registered the domain name bitcoin.org, with that address.
• On 31October 2008 published a white paper describing the digital cryptocurrency.
• Launched the network on 9January2009.

• 
  In mid-2010 gave control of the source code repository and network alert key to Gavin Andresen (right)...and dropped out into the ether.
• In 2021 a monument (right) was created in Budapest, Hungary in honor of his work on bitcoin and crytocurrencies.
• He purportedly owns between 750,000 and 1.1 billion bitcoins, so on November 2021 his net worth was up to $73 billion, making him the 15th richest person in the world.

So who or which team is Satoshi Nakamoto?

• Someone from Japan who is 46 years old.
• Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney who passed away in 2014 at the age of 58 from Lou Gehrig's disease.
• Graduated from Cal Tech as an engineer.
• Lived close to someone named Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto.
• The textual writing of both is similar.
• Thus, one theory is that Finney just borrowed the name of Satoshi Nakamoto.
• 
  Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto of California, who was born Satoshi Nakamoto.
• Studied physics at Cal Poly Pomona.
• Worked as a systems engineer for defense projects
• Was laid off twice and became a libertarian in the early 1990s.  That is, he became motivated to circumvent government policies and finances.

• 
  Although they deny, other candidates could be Nick Szabo, Craig Wright, Vili Lehdonvirta, Michael Clear, Vladimir Oksman, Charles Bry, Shinichi Mochizuki, Gavin Andresen, Jed McCaleb, Ross Ulbricht, Adam Back, Elon Musk and Paul Le Roux.
• John McAfee (left) has never been mentioned as Satoshi Nakamoto, but he has the right background in software, British link and Libertarian, having run for U.S. President for the Libertarian Party in 2016 and 2020.  
• In a Forbes 2020 article, he said he was 99% sure he knows the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, and that it is a team of eleven people, including many of those listed immediately above.
• Accused of murder, rape, tax evasion and assorted other crimes.
• Was caught in Spain and awaiting extradition, committed suicide in June of this year.
• However, he earlier said that if anyone found him of self-hanging, you can assume he was murdered.

So who and where is Satoshi Nakamoto?  It remains one of the internets's most tantalizing mysteries.

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NEWS OF THE WORLD: Part 2. BITCOIN

Bitcoin has dropped 45% since its peak of 126,000 in October of 2025.  Here is a video on what has happened.  Two historic graphs.

Of course, who would have known, but:

• If you had purchased $100 worth of Bitcoin earlier in 2015, it would today be worth close to $25,000 today.
• If you bought at the end of 2015, around $15,000.  
• Of course, if you had somehow gotten in at the beginning, here is what I wrote in October of last year, updating Bitcoin when it was at this high period.

• 
  By late 2009, the first recorded exchange of Bitcoin for dollars was $5.02.
• Something to do with pizza, but on 22May2010, 10,000 Bitcoins were worth $40.
• June 2011:  $26/bitcoin.
• February 2013:  $22/bitcoin.
• But those numbers have not been used to make this comparison to today

Here is what $100 invested in these companies in early 2015 would be worth in late 2025/early 2026:

• Amazon (AMZN): ~$880 - $950
• Apple (AAPL): ~$850 - $1,150
• Alphabet/Google (GOOGL): ~$500 - $670
• S&P 500 Index Fund (SPY): ~$300 - $400 

I asked Google AI who founded Bitcoin:

.......by a still-anonymous person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the white paper in 2008 and released the software in 2009. Despite intense speculation and various theories, the true identity remains unverified. Nakamoto stopped communicating in 2011 and never moved their estimated 1.1 million Bitcoin stash. 

Key Details About the Founder:

• The Name: Satoshi Nakamoto.
• Active Period: 2008–2010.
• White Paper: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.

• Key Beliefs: The founder emphasized decentralization and privacy, which is likely why he or they remained anonymous.
• Wealth: Holds approximately 1.1 million BTC, making them one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. 

Key Candidates and Theories (2026)

• Hal Finney (Deceased): A revered cryptographer and the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi. Many analysts consider him the most likely candidate due to his technical prowess, early involvement, and the fact that he lived in Temple City, California, just a few blocks from Dorian Nakamoto. He denied being Satoshi before passing away in 2014.

• 
  Nick Szabo (right): An early pioneer of decentralized currency who developed "Bit Gold" in 1998, a direct precursor to Bitcoin. Stylometric analysis has frequently linked his writing style to the Bitcoin whitepaper, though he has consistently denied being the creator.
• Dorian Nakamoto: In 2014, Newsweek incorrectly identified Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, a Japanese-American engineer living in California, as the creator. Despite his denial, he became an accidental "mascot" for the persona due to his name, background in engineering, and proximity to Hal Finney.
• 
  Len Sassaman (Deceased): A cryptographer and cypherpunk who died by suicide in July 2011, the same month Satoshi sent his last known email. His, and the timing of his death, makes him a frequently cited, though largely circumstantial, candidate.

• 
  Peter Todd: Named as the likely Satoshi in a 2024 HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery. The documentary relied on circumstantial evidence, such as his early interaction with Bitcoin, which Todd called "ludicrous" and "grasping at straws".
• Adam Back: A British cryptographer and CEO of Blockstream, who invented Hashcash (a proof-of-work system used in Bitcoin). He is often considered part of the "Collaborative Group Theory," which suggests Satoshi was a team, rather than an individual. 

Discredited Claims

• Craig Wright: An Australian computer scientist who claimed to be Satoshi for years. In March 2024, a UK High Court ruled that Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper, not the creator of the system, and that he had "lied to the court extensively and repeatedly". 

The "Satoshi" Group Theory

Increasingly, analysts and experts, particularly as of 2026, believe "Satoshi Nakamoto" was not one person, but a team or collective, likely including some combination of Hal Finney, Nick Szabo, and Adam Back. 

Finally, Bitcoin was around 69,000 at the midpoint of the market day, up 2,809.

About the 2026 Winter Olympics, one week into the Games, the medal count at the time of my posting this contribution today:

Top 2026 Winter Olympics Medal Standings (As of Day 6)

• Norway (NOR): 7 Gold, 2 Silver, 5 Bronze (14 total)
• Italy (ITA): 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 8 Bronze (17 total)
• USA (USA): 4 Gold, 7 Silver, 3 Bronze (14 total)
• Germany (GER): 4 Gold, 3 Silver, 0 Bronze (7 total)

Since I returned from our long trip a few weeks ago, I went on a minimal diet and tried to walk 3 miles/day.  I'm back to normal in weight and hope to do that at least 3 times/week.  Authorities say that an old person should walk 6000 steps/day, and that is just about 3 miles for me.  I only walk in my floor hallway, for there are guardrails, carpet, no homeless danger, nor attacking dogs.  The weather is also perfect.  I regularly see rainbows.

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THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF BITCOIN, CRYPTOCURRENCY AND NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS

Some of us put money in a bank and try to maximize the interest rate.  According to Michael Saylor, the conventional monetary supply devalues the dollar by 15%/year, if you are so unconscious as to do this.  Then there are others who conservatively dabble in the stock or bond market.  Have you thought of, like Elon Musk, investing in Bitcoin?  The March 29/April 5, 2021 issue of Time featured this whole new world of cryptocurrency.

Let me start with, What is a cryptocurrency?  It is digital money in the form of virtual tokens or coins.   While you were economically snoozing, just during this past decade, the financial world was inundated with more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies.  Bitcoin was the first (2009) and is by far the most prominent, but there is Ethereum (2015), which does something slightly different.

• 
  Bitcoin is what you're most familiar with, and the story reads like a fable, or mystery novel:
• If you had invested $100 in October of 2010, this is now worth $58.2 million.
• Bitcoin jumped a factor of 4 in 2020 and has doubled in 2021.

• 
  Only 21 million bitcoin can ever exist.
• Thus known as digital gold because there is a limited supply.
• Has a current market cap of $1.1 trillion, about half its market.

• 
  I've had several postings on bitcoin, dating back to 2013.  I said someone or group named Satoshi Nakamoto originated the concept in 2008, except no one can determine who he is, although I could immediately eliminate Zorro and Uncle Sam:

To simplify the whole thing, a bitcoin allows anything to be sold anonymously on the internet.  Nothing can be traced.  Thus, drugs, weapons, sensitive porn...anything, can be bought and sold, and you receive your product through the U.S. Post Office or some form of express mail.  You avoid bank and credit card fees.

• 
  Here is one from 2017 where Satoshi Nakamoto was still missing.
• On 5 May 2020 Forbes said:  John McAfee Thinks He's Solved Bitcoin's Greatest Mystery--Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?  Of course, McAfee himself is a con man dealing with possible murder and fraud, having run last year as the Libertarian candidate for the U.S. presidency.  He essentially said he knows, but won't tell, hinting that Satoshi Nakamoto is probably a group.
• The best article I've ever read about the status of Satoshi Nakamoto was written in July 2020.

• Then in November of 2020, Seavangelist Joe Quirk alerted me that the MS Satoshi would be activated as a crypto cruise vessel to safely deal with bitcoins.
• Alas, Ocean Builders from Panama on 2 March 2021 could not gain the cooperation of insurance companies and the ship was sent to India for possible scrapping.

It is with considerable trepidation then that I deal with this subject, quoting various bullets provided by the latest issue of TIME.  I've been subscribing to this magazine for around 60 years, and every so often they make adjustments.  The title on the cover (see first graphic above) for one, is almost transparent.  The changes continue inside the pages.  So about this whole new world of cryptocurrency:

• Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets that can serve as a commodity, like a piece of art.
• 
  But how can you sell something like digital art which anyone can steal just by plucking it out of the ethersphere?  Doesn't matter, it is still owned by a person or entity.  It exists on something called a blockchain, a tamper-resistant digital public ledger.
• 
  Can you believe that American Mike Winklemann, also known as Beeple, sold his EVERYDAYS:  THE FIRST FIVE THOUSAND DAYS for $69 million?  
• Make that $69,346,250, as purchased by Metakovan, founder of Metapurse, a crypto fund.  Said to be the third most valuable artwork ever sold by a living artist.  The highest price is Leonardo da Vinci's Salvador Mundi at $450.3 million, and #20 is Jean-Michel Basquiat's $110.5 Untitled.  MetaKovan said he thinks it is worth a billion dollars because this work represents 13 years of daily work and is the most valuable piece of art for this generation.  Above to the right is just one of the 5000 digital images within EVERYDAYS, The First Emoji.
• 
  He can list it on a blockchain like Ethereum, which charges him anywhere from $40 to $200, and this platform can then auction this piece, similar to eBay.
• By the way, who is MetaKovan?  Ah, another mystery:
• One theory is Vignesh Sundaresan, CEO of Singapore-based Portly Technologies, 
• It is not Justin Sun of blockchain founder TRON because he said he bid $70 million 30 seconds before a technical glitch stalled his attempt.
• Yesterday, the buyers were revealed, Twobadour, who are Anand Venkateswaran originally from Chennai, and Vignesh Sundaresan (on right).  So no mystery here now.

So say you are a struggling artist, how do you sell your NFT (remember, in this media, your painting is a Non-Fungible Token).  It is unique and irreplaceable.  Which could mean just about anything.  And, by the way, do you know what fungible means?

Fungibility is the ability of a good or asset to be interchanged with other individual goods or assets of the same type. Fungible assets simplify the exchange and trade processes, as fungibility implies equal value between the assets.

But this NFT CryptoKitty above sold for $170,000.  So moving on:

• 
  Get a Digital Wallet like MetaMask, Ledger, Nano X and Coinbase Wallet:  think of this as your checking account.
• Load your wallet:  that is, pay the transaction fee to create your account.
• Connect Your Wallet with an NFT Platform like Nifty Gateway, OpenSea and SuperRare:  some are invitational only.
• Upload and Sign Your Art:  these can be images, audio files, whatever.

• 
  Mint Your NFT:  pay a fee to upload your file.  This is that $200-$400 fee earlier mentioned.
• Set Up Your Terms:  can be anything from a standard contract to one more customized.  You can choose to be paid every time your work is resold, like royalties.
• Wait for the offers to roll in.

Do I even attempt to talk about "meme stocks" like GameStop?  Sure, but only the basics:

• A meme stock (MS) is one that has gone viral online.
• Increase in sales volume has nothing to do with company performance.
• Activity hyped by social media and online forums like Reddit, 
• All of them when they peak are overvalued.
• There is always a crash.
• Some MSs are 
• GameStop:  increased in value by hundreds of dollars in days.
• AMC:  jumped tenfold 
• BlackBerry:  tripled.
• 
  Here is what happens:
• A handful of investors buy a cheap stock in large quantities.
• Price increase is noticed by others,
• Social media picks comes into play through the phenomenon known as FOMO, or fear of missing out.

• 
  Stock peaks, and early adopters begin to cash out.
• This becomes a waterfall, and only those who went in early make out.
• You might say this is sort of like a Ponzi scheme.

Here is how GameStop went:

GameStop lagged under 5/share for years, with daily volumes in the low millions.  Then:

• A jump in September of 2020 to 10, with 35 million shares traded on September 22.
• Up to 20/share in December.
• In a month to 40/share.
• Then:
• January 19     39  144 million shares
• January 22     65  197 million 
• January 25     77  178 million
• January 26    148  179 million 
• January 27    348  93 million
• February 4      54  62 million
• February 23    45    8 million
• F             24    92   83 million
• F             25   109 150 million
• March 10       265  71 million
• March 24       120  24 million
• April 1           191    9 million
• April 8           170   10 million

But 170 when it is worth, maybe 5 or 17???  Oh, with one hour to go, the 170 dropped so far today to 158.  Most fearful of all, if GameStop is actually not performing that well, and will someday go the way of Blockbuster, won't this current still inflated price sink?  Of course.  But when?  And it still, for reasons that confound me, can again jump up.

From Motley Fool:

In recent months, Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) and GameStop (NYSE:GME) have both been hot topics in the investing world. That's not surprising, considering both have generated incredible returns in a very short period of time: In the last 12 months, Bitcoin's value is up 700% and shares of GameStop have surged over 5,000%.

Finally, you want a conspiracy theory?  One only wonders if much of this meme stock nonsense began years ago, and there are numerous stocks just waiting to be activated to deceive the public.  These miscreants will make the most money, but if you consider GameStop, they also helped the long-term investor who stuck around.  Is this legal?  Don't be caught in the next frenzy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average his another all-time high, ending today at 33,801.

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