Speculation About Satoshi Nakamoto: Is Ripple CTO David Schwartz the Bitcoin Creator?

The identity of the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto remains a mystery. Now Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has brought an old theory back into the conversation: Could Ripple CTO David Schwartz be behind the legendary pseudonym?

Hoskinson describes Schwartz as "very intelligent" and highlights his unpaid support for Cardano's Midnight team. The theory gains plausibility through Schwartz's long-standing cryptography experience dating back to the 1990s. Additionally, XRP is one of the oldest crypto ecosystems and was deliberately designed as an alternative to Bitcoin – for example, without a mining mechanism.

This speculation was already discussed years ago, with the late John McAfee also expressing support for it. Schwartz himself has been working at Ripple Labs since 2011 and plans to step down as CTO only at the end of this year.

However, Schwartz has repeatedly rejected the theory. According to his own statements, he only learned about Bitcoin in 2011 and was not a key player in its early development phase. Satoshi Nakamoto made his last post on the Bitcoin forum on December 12, 2010, and subsequently disappeared without a trace.