Kraken may know Satoshi’s identity: Coinbase director

Coinbase director Conor Grogan speculated that Kraken and its founder, Jesse Powell, may have access to Satoshi Nakamoto’s real identity due to a 2016 acquisition.

This week, blockchain data provider Arkham indexed approximately 22,000 wallets believed to be controlled by the pseudonymous Bitcoin (BTC) creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

While Grogan questioned the use of the Patoshi Pattern, a specific mining routine some believe Satoshi used, the Coinbase director acknowledged the merits of Arkham’s research, stating that the report provided new evidence about Bitcoin’s early activity.

I went through Satoshi Nakamoto’s wallets; thread of new findings that I don’t think have been previously reported including:

-My best guess is that Satoshi was last active onchain in 2014
-He may have used a Canadian BTC exchange (!)
-Kraken may know the identity of Satoshi pic.twitter.com/ajD2A73fm8

— Conor (@jconorgrogan) February 5, 2025

One of the wallets highlighted by Arkham and confirmed by Grogan is among the few publicly known addresses from which Satoshi spent BTC.

The wallets link to a withdrawal address registered at CaVirtEx, a Canadian crypto exchange. “I believe this is the first documented on-chain link between a Satoshi-linked wallet and a CEX,” Grogan wrote in an X thread.

Kraken, founded by Jesse Powell, acquired CaVirtEx in 2016 and may have retained customer data from the exchange. This suggests that Kraken and Powell could potentially have access to Satoshi’s real identity. “My advice to him would be to delete the data,” Grogan added.

You might also like: Arkham: Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin stash worth over $100b

Grogan’s investigation also connected one of the so-called Satoshi addresses to an active Bitcoin whale, whose holdings are worth $3 billion at current prices.

The mystery surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity has persisted since Bitcoin’s launch 16 years ago. Figures like Craig Wright have claimed the title, but community-led efforts have repeatedly debunked such assertions.

Meanwhile, many within the crypto space believe it is in Bitcoin’s best interest for Satoshi Nakamoto to remain a faceless blockchain legend.

Read more: SEC’s top crypto prosecutor reassigned to IT unit

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