Just recently, the cryptocurrency community turned bitcointalk.org discovered. A forum user who signed a message from Bitcoin Block 1,018, the signer associated the signature with the address he first confirmed in 2022. Additionally, further research and evidence has linked Block 1,018 to the late computer scientist Hal Finney’s Bitcoin transaction. Two days ago, another signature and message associated with an old Bitcoin address was published, this time by Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager at “Pharmaceutical Companions”. Crime cartel boss and former programmer Paul Le Roux is making the bold claim that he sent Hal Finney his first bitcoin transaction on the 12th.
The problem is that Finney passed away in 2014 after dealing with years of suffering related to complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This means that Finney himself did not sign the transaction, but the wallet may continue to be controlled by the rest of his family and estate. But after Onesignature’s revelation, another signature appeared on the web, this time by former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli. The convicted felon and “pharmaceutical buddy” is a controversial figure, and lately he has been involved in numerous crypto-related debates.
Visual view of his 1Q2TW Bitcoin address associated with Hal Finney and his 10 BTC sent by Satoshi Nakamoto. This address he also sent 0.034337 BTC on Sep 6, 2017.
On December 13, 2022, Shkreli published a post on his Substack blog,blog post titled “Paul Le Roux is Satoshi. In this post, Shkreli shares the bitcoin address associated with the message and signature published on Shkreli’s blog. The address is “1Q2TW“, the same address Satoshi Nakamoto sent his 10 Bitcoins from Block 9 to Hal Finney on January 12, 2009. Shkreli’s message states: His Hal Finney #bitcoin on January 12, 2009. The message also contains a signature certifying that the signer has access to his 1Q2TW private key. In the comments section, Shkreli was asked where he got the message, but the former hedge fund and his manager did not disclose this information.
Software developer Greg Maxwell holes in his Shkreli evidence. I criticize you for not sharing. “His inability to answer this question is very telling, even by simply stating why he can’t say it directly,” one person wrote. “We can see that Martin is scrutinizing the comments.” Additionally, Shkreli faces Bitcoin developer Greg Maxwell. He explains that the signature type used to sign the message did not exist when Finney was developing it. “That means it could have been created by someone who got hold of Hal’s private key after his death,” Maxwell argued. “We know that address has been actively sending transactions ever since Hal’s death, so *obviously* someone has control of the key.”
1Q2TW Address Maxwell’s comment is correct, since he had outbound transactions long after his death. A transfer of 0.034337 BTC was sent from He 1Q2TW on September 6, 2017 at 1:42 AM (ET). Maxwell further added that the signatures he posted were “incompatible with the Bitcoin blockchain and a new protocol we introduced specifically for message signatures, first released in Bitcoin 0.5.0 on November 1, 2011. The signature type: The software programmer also noted that the particular format was an “Electrum-style” scheme, which “wasn’t even proposed until mid-2013,” Maxwell stressed. “I don’t know when it was first implemented.” Maxwell continues:
By the time signmessage was created in late 2011, Hal was severely disabled. , incapable of using a computer without the help of someone else, and was not widely used until several years later. Another commenter points out that this address was active in his 2017, so we get the obvious explanation. The message was not signed by Hal, who is currently using his key.
Shkreli claims that he intends to “contact Finney’s family” to confirm ownership of the private key.
Shkreli responds to Maxwell. “This is very helpful. I’m going to contact Finney’s family to see who has these keys and why they’re signing messages,” Shkreli said. said. “From what I know about Phinneys, it doesn’t seem like they LARP, sign random signatures, or sell key pairs,” added “Pharmaceutical Buddies.” , noted that the Finney family was once attacked by extortionists, and further noted that some of Hull’s bitcoins were sold. “We could have done it just by selling the key (or the whole wallet), which is a convenient way of not having to figure out how to use it,” said Maxwell.
Paul Le Roux has been a Satoshi suspect since 2019.
The name “Paul Le Roux” is a former cartel boss, DEA informant, and he was in prison after being arrested for various crimes in 2012. Live Software is his programmer. His name was first associated with Satoshi after circumstantial evidence emerged during the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit.
One of his documents in the lawsuit (document 187) highlights an unredacted footnote, in which Paul Le Roux’s Wikipedia page It shows his URL address linked to. This document, and the fact that Le Roux was highly regarded as an innovative software engineer and cryptographer, led many to believe that Le Roux was Satoshi. For example, investigative journalist Evan Ratliff said in an archived Bitcoin.com podcast that he considers Le Roux to be “the most reliable Satoshi ever.” Ratliff also wrote about his theory in a Wired article published in July 2016.
After further consideration of Maxwell’s commentary, Shkreli replied, Satoshi concluding that he didn’t really care who Nakamoto was. “Very interesting,” Shkreli replied to Maxwell. “I have no dog in this fight and I don’t care if Satoshi is Le Roux or Finney, neither, or both. It seems very likely that it was recently created by.”
What are your thoughts on Martin Shkreli’s message? What are your thoughts on Greg Maxwell’s statement? Hal Finney’s Bitcoin Do you think someone signed the address associated with his address? Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.
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