Evan Ratliff, the writer of the e-book The Mastermind, shares his analysis on Paul Le Roux, who he believes might be the person behind Bitcoin. Ratliff has pieced collectively the proof however admits he matches a narrative right into a narrative, conceding that Satoshi Nakamoto is in all probability another person completely.
The thriller surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto is cryptocurrency’s most enduring query. There has at all times been a sure dissatisfaction concerning the official narrative, which is solely heightened by experiences that Nakamoto’s purported 1 million Bitcoin stash stays static. But what is it about Le Roux that pulls suspicions?
Who is Le Roux?
Le Roux is a programmer specializing in encryption who turned an on-line pharmacy enterprise right into a worldwide felony enterprise. He branched out into medication and arms trafficking whereas utilizing the specter of violence and homicide to maintain his lackeys in test.
In 2012, Le Roux was lured to Liberia, which has an extradition treaty with the U.S., on the premise of assembly a Colombian cartel boss. It later transpired the boss was a paid informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
He was arrested by native police, who turned down his bribe and handed him over to the DEA.
In return for confessing and pleading responsible to the costs of conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S. and violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, Le Roux had immunity from another related crimes, together with homicide. This transfer spared him the loss of life penalty.
He was handed a 25-year jail sentence by Judge Abrams, who stated:
“The scope and severity of Mr. Le Roux’s criminal conduct is nothing short of breathtaking. I have before me a man who has engaged in conduct in keeping with the villain in a James Bond movie.”
The Case For Le Roux as Bitcoin Founder is Weak
Ratliff had carried out tons of of interviews with associates, and different related individuals, turning up not even a whiff of suspicion that Le Roux is Nakamoto. This led Ratliff to desert that concept altogether.
But in 2018, an unredacted footnote, within the lawsuit by Ira Kleiman in opposition to Craig Wright, confirmed hyperlinks to a information article and a Wikipedia web page on Le Roux, forcing Ratliff to revisit this concept.
Ira is the brother of Dave Kleiman, who mined tons of of hundreds of Bitcoin with Wright. Dave died in 2013, and Ira alleges Wright transferred Dave’s share of the tokens to himself, due to this fact expropriating Dave’s property of billions of {dollars}.
Ratliff factors to Le Roux’s experience in encryption and networking. While working as a programmer earlier than his felony endeavors, Le Roux spent years creating an encryption software program referred to as Encryption for the Masses, or E4M.
“In 1999, he announced E4M on a cryptography mailing list, launched a web site at e4m.net to release the open source code, and began patiently answering technical questions and taking suggestions.”
Satoshi Nakamoto, when creating Bitcoin, adopted an identical model. Nakamoto additionally introduced the Bitcoin whitepaper on a cryptography mailing listing in October 2008. He then rolled out the software program on bitcoin.org and frolicked answering technical questions and taking recommendations.
Ratliff additionally touches on extra refined happenstances comparable to a Satoshi publish that mentions “strong encryption for the masses,” Le Roux’s British commonwealth connection, being a South African, and Nakamoto’s use of British spelling comparable to color versus colour. As properly as an aversion to governmental management that each share.
However, all of this is circumstantial, which one thing Ratliff admits to.
As for who Satoshi Nakamoto is, this is one thing we’ll in all probability by no means know.
Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com