Growth and Innovation at What Price?

Bitcoin, a form of currency as wondrous as its creator. The creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, reinvented currency as we know it and then just disappeared into the night, never to be seen. It makes me wonder, what happened to Satoshi? Rumor has it, she is in the middle of the forest with the best security possible and as off grid as she possibly can be. And, that’s right, I said she. As a woman who has experienced working in male-dominated industries, I prefer to think that a woman broke barriers without needing the notoriety.

I imagine that as she sipped her coffee on the porch with a view that most of us would kill for, she thought about this fortune she’d amassed and how she was going to put it back into the economy and the people of it.

For some time, she had quietly been siphoning money into many charities from animal welfare to domestic violence and everything in between. As she was navigating the waters of wealth and anonymity, she had to watch her every move while taking each of these opportunities.

However, one day she let up just so slightly and paid the consequences. A couple of hackers managed to find her whereabouts, able to take siege upon her and her home and capture her, relentlessly torturing her to find out as much information on her wealth as possible. Thankfully, she’s grown up an especially strong woman, and no “little torture” that these two could provide would break her from the strength that had grown to be her identity.

While we know that she has been taken under duress, our knowledge does not go beyond that information. The hackers only let us know what they want us to, getting us close to the answers but not close enough to figure them out.

Recently, a cryptic message was discovered by a mother walking through the woods. It was addressed from Satoshi, but, quite honestly, it left more questions than answers.

Those of us in the support groups are never going to give up on helping her, no matter what it takes for us to do so. But it has taxed a significant part of the community, taking the potential insight from the group from members that no longer feel they can participate.

I've always wondered how she felt in her situation. Was she scared? Was she angry? Was she just wanting to be done with it so she could move on with her life? I'm not sure, but I do know that she is an absolute fighter, and she will definitely not go down without a fight.

Satoshi has been an absolute role model for women everywhere. Not only in the fact that our inventions and innovations and changes are worthwhile, but that we are much stronger than we are given credit for. She broke barriers so we could break standards of women that are beyond outdated.

I do wonder, with her anonymity, was she able to have any type of normal life? Or did she truly just have to hide herself away for risk of being exposed to the general public? I often wonder this about celebrities, but this was a whole new barrier to be broken, and we didn't get a chance to learn from the person who broke it.

I do hope that one day we are able to save her and give her that chance. I know she likely never would do to the fascination, however, it never hurts to wish for something positive for someone else.

With that said, I never took advantage of the opportunities that Bitcoin presented 11 years ago, however, I recently started investing some small money into stocks and decided I would give Bitcoin a go!

And while I have recently taken up that investment in Bitcoin, I regret not investing in it originally as I would have been able to be out of debt. But I still consider myself lucky to be in the position that I am in now, even if I invested only a handful of money.

To Satoshi, you have changed so many lives. Please, continue to be strong for us.