Sergio Demian Lerner, the researcher behind the Patoshi Pattern, has asserted that Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto will never spend his roughly 1.1 million bitcoins because he is altruistic. Lerner shared his views during a recent Ask-Me-Anything (AMA) session on Reddit.
The Patoshi Pattern exploits privacy flaws in the early Bitcoin protocol v0.1 to identify blocks potentially mined by Satoshi Nakamoto. Lerner argued that the Bitcoin creator is unlikely to use his coins, which have not moved since 2009, as this immobility represents the fairest possible foundation for the cryptocurrency's inception.
Satoshi's Coins Untouched for 11 Years: Altruism the Only Explanation
During the AMA, Lerner explained his reasoning: 'Assuming Satoshi is Patoshi, I believe, based on the past history of Satoshi coins, that Satoshi won't use his coins ever. Therefore, I think that there couldn't be a fairer and a more altruistic way for Bitcoin to be born.' He emphasized that the fact that these coins have never been moved is itself strong evidence.
In May 2020, the Bitcoin community cited Patoshi Pattern research to attribute a sudden movement of 50 BTC mined during Bitcoin's early days to the anonymous founder. However, Lerner downplayed this speculation, arguing that the block responsible for that 50 BTC fell outside the blocks mined using the Patoshi Pattern.
Lerner Will Not Dig Deeper into Satoshi's Identity
In the AMA, Lerner claimed to have more leads regarding the Patoshi Pattern but said he will not pursue the research further. 'I don't want to dig any more into that matter and I feel I contributed enough to the transparency of Bitcoin. Digging more may be entering Satoshi's privacy area,' he stated. This cautious stance reflects the broader sentiment among many Bitcoin researchers about respecting the founder's anonymity.
Lerner also addressed how he designed the second-layer Bitcoin protocol, RSK, revealing that it took several years to uncover the nuances that form the basis of his pattern.
The Logic Behind the Patoshi Pattern
The Patoshi Pattern relies on the assumption that Nakamoto mined in Bitcoin's early days to validate his concepts, and that he used version 0.1 of the Bitcoin code. Ninety-nine of the blocks tentatively attributed to Satoshi contain coins that have never been spent, distinguishing them from other blocks mined by the same pattern during the same period.
Lerner further argues that blocks falling within the Patoshi Pattern often ended suddenly and resumed at the point of interruption. The unlikelihood of coordinated interruption ties these blocks to a single miner, and the non-movement of the coins can be attributed to Satoshi's founder altruism.
However, Lerner remains conservative regarding the miner's identity. Despite advancing a strong case for Satoshi, he maintains that his research only arrives at a 'Patoshi,' who may or may not be Satoshi himself. His remarks add a new layer to the long-standing debate about Satoshi's motives, with the untouched coins serving as a powerful symbol of Bitcoin's decentralized ethos.