Does Kraken know Satoshi’s id? Coinbase exec’s analysis hints at chance

Just some months after HBO floated Peter Todd’s identify as Satoshi, Coinbase’s Conor Grogan has dropped new findings suggesting a potential hyperlink between Bitcoin’s creator and the main crypto alternate Kraken.

Grogan’s evaluation examines a set of addresses exhibiting the “Patoshi Mining Sample,” just lately cataloged by Arkham Intelligence. He suggests sturdy, although not definitive, proof of a hyperlink to Satoshi.

I went via Satoshi Nakamoto’s wallets; thread of latest findings that I do not suppose have been beforehand reported together with:

-My greatest guess is that Satoshi was final lively onchain in 2014
-He could have used a Canadian BTC alternate (!)
-Kraken could know the id of Satoshi pic.twitter.com/ajD2A73fm8

— Conor (@jconorgrogan) February 5, 2025

For context, “Patoshi Mining Sample” refers to a singular and identifiable sample within the early Bitcoin blockchain information that’s believed to be related to Satoshi. Satoshi was seemingly one of many main miners, if not the only real, throughout this era. The sample was first found and analyzed by safety researcher Sergio Demian Lerner.

Analyzing the mining sample addresses, Grogan estimates that Satoshi controls roughly 1.096 million BTC, a sum value over $108 billion. This might place Satoshi’s wealth, on paper, far past that of figures like Invoice Gates.

Grogan discovered that these addresses despatched out 24 Bitcoin transactions, with the most typical vacation spot being an handle labeled “1PYYj.” The 1PYYj handle additionally acquired Bitcoin from CaVirtEx, a Canadian alternate acquired by Kraken in early 2016.

Grogan speculates that Kraken’s co-founder Jesse Powell might need entry to details about Satoshi’s id via CaVirtEx’s know-your-customer (KYC) information.

“My recommendation to him can be to delete the information,” he wrote.

Kraken’s X account responded to Grogan’s analysis with the remark, “We’re all Satoshi,” although Powell has but to problem an announcement.

The 1PYYj handle is linked to an handle beginning with “12ib”, one in all Bitcoin’s largest lively addresses at the moment holding $3 billion in BTC, in keeping with Grogan.

“This lends credence to the hyperlink that 1PY was related to Satoshi or a really early adopter/contributor,” stated Grogan.

Controversial findings

Grogan’s evaluation was met with skepticism. Many crypto group members identified that it’s unlikely Kraken would have any information linked to Satoshi. Within the early days of crypto exchanges, KYC laws had been far much less stringent than they’re at the moment.

“It’s unlikely that Kraken would know who’s behind the wallets. Plus, you don’t want KYC to ship to a pockets parked on an alternate,” an X person advised.

Some famous that Bitcoin transactions might move via a number of arms. Somebody might have acquired Bitcoin from CaVirtEx after which despatched it to the suspected Satoshi-controlled wallets.

“Why would [Satoshi] ship BTC from a CEX to his on-chain addresses? Might it not have been a random particular person?” one person questioned.

Responding to a request to not publish analysis on Satoshi’s id as it might hurt the trade, Grogan stated he certainly noticed it as optimistic information.

“This analysis provides me MORE confidence that these cash aren’t transferring and Satoshi is not lively,” he asserted. “No motion in any related wallets via 2014 may be very bullish!”

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