Stylometry is the study of linguistic style, generally with a view to identifying its author. In the absence of any other meaningful metrics, it’s become the primary means of analyzing the veracity of new writings purporting to be the work of Satoshi Nakamoto. Last week, armchair stylometrists were given a trove of material to sift through after someone purporting to be bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator released a 21-page retrospective.
Also read: Mainstream Media Believes Satoshi Nakamoto is Back
Crypto Messiah or Crypto Pariah?
Anyone can claim to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but convincing the crypto community of such is a tall order. Short of signing a message with the key from the genesis block, no one claiming to be Satoshi will ever convince everyone. Produce a suitably compelling new piece of work, however, and you’ll at the very least set tongues wagging and crypto Twitter foaming – if only to debunk the latest arriviste to claim Satoshi’s vacated throne.
As news.Bitcoin.com reported yesterday, the latest Satoshi is almost certain to be as fake as every other chancer that’s emerged since the original upped and left. When bitcoin’s price action isn’t generating much attention, however, playing armchair detective with Satoshi claimants provides an entertaining way of passing the time while raising the bar for all subsequent Satoshis to meet.
One Stylometrist is Impressed
“Is Satoshi writing a book? Is Duality authentic? I weigh in here because I have spent the last few years studying and reading every single word Nakamoto ever wrote as I’m writing a book about Bitcoin as we speak,” tweeted Daniel Jeffries. His tweetstorm assessing the veracity of Duality is, like the work itself, open to question. He does conclude, however, that whoever wrote the work is either Satoshi
