Australian man claims he is the founder of bitcoins

An Australian entrepreneur claimed on Monday to be the creator of the online currency Bitcoin. Within hours, the skepticism started.Whether the truth is ultimately uncovered, the hunt for the founder’s identity is part of the new reality of the online age. A vast array of new tools and technologies make it ever easier to hide in the vast digital ocean that is the Internet — and all the more difficult to put a face to every screen name. Craig Steven Wright, the computer programmer who claimed in interviews with the BBC,The Economistand GQ to be the currency's progenitor, said that he had come forward to quell the rumors. While Mr. Wright was first identified as Bitcoin’s founder in December 2015 by Wired magazine and the technology website Gizmodo,he remained silent then.Mr. Wright said that he now wanted to “dispel any negative myths and fears” about the virtual currency. “I cannot allow the misinformation that has been spread to impact the future of Bitcoin,” he said. If his claims prove true, Mr. Wright could help shape the debate over the future of Bitcoin. The direction of the virtual currency is at an impasse ahead of a major Bitcoin conference on Monday. But many technical experts, including some of the leading Bitcoin developers, said that Mr. Wright’s evidence did not prove he was the digital currency’s creator, identified by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The mystery of Bitcoin’s founder has been central to its cachet ever since it surfaced in 2009. Yet the creator has also been mostly silent since Bitcoin rose to prominence.If Mr. Wright’s claims can be confirmed, they open a whole new set of issues for Bitcoin. Does its creator have more power than others who have played a major role in its development? If the founder asserts authority over its direction, does that undercut the very power of the currency as a decentralized system?