The Master of the Deep Dive: Carreyrou Unmasks Satoshi Nakamoto

John Carreyrou, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and now with the New York Times, has published a masterful investigation into the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin.  I'd hate to reveal any spoilers, so I won't go into the details.

My Quest to Solve Bitcoin’s Great Mystery

If you haven't read the piece, do yourself a favor and take 30 minutes to do so now. I consider it a masterclass in deep research as well as an exploration of how AI is transforming the research process for journalists and investment analysts alike.

Carreyrou's approach is based on forensic analysis of emails and chat room postings. He cross-references those against the writing patterns of people in the cryptography community to pattern match the real Satoshi. I doubt this approach would have worked even just a few years ago, but advancements in AI and machine learning have made it possible.

I think as an investment analyst, I need to think creatively and have an open-minded approach about what research is now possible in this brave new world.

I have been following Carreyrou since he published Bad Blood, which I consider another masterpiece. Investigative journalism is more or less dead these days; there is no business model to support it. But there are a select few, including Carreyrou, who are carrying the flame. James B. Stewart is another. The contributors to the New Yorker are also best in class, at least when they can avoid self-indulgent first-person narratives.

I have no stake in the crypto world, but my hypothesis (weakly held) is that the unmasking of Satoshi is bearish for bitcoin. A myth of immaculate conception has grown up around bitcoin due to the mystery surrounding Satoshi. If bitcoin comes to be seen as the creation of a cryptography maximalist, with all the flaws and foibles of a normal human being, some of its mystique could wane.