Donors pledge bitcoins to Dorian S. Nakamoto; tally now up to $12,500

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto may not have created bitcoin, but now, he has a whole lot of it.

After Nakamoto’s life was thurst into the media spotlight by Newsweek, which on Thursday ran an article alleging he invented bitcoin, more than $12,500 worth of bitcoins have been pouring into an address set up to collect donations for the 64-year-old Temple City resident.

The donations began after a campaign was launched by Andreas M. Antonopoulos, the chief security officer of Blockchain, a website where users can store their bitcoins. On Reddit, Antonopoulos said users can donate as a “thank you” if Nakamoto did invent bitcoin or as a “sorry for what happened to you” if he did not.

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So far, more than 800 donations have been made, worth more than 20 bitcoins. That’s worth more than $12,500, according to CoinDesk which says one bitcoin is currently worth $626.27.

Although Newsweek stands by its story, Nakamoto on Thursday denied having any involvement with bitcoin.

Whether Nakamoto invented the cryptocurrency or not, Antonopoulos said the address will accept donations through the end of March. Come April, Antonopoulos said he will convert the bitcoin into U.S. dollars and make his best effort to contact Nakamoto so that the money can be delivered.

“I will document as much of that process as possible to prove the donations were delivered, as long as that documentation does not affect Dorian’s privacy,” he said.

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