Over the past 15 years, there have been numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the creation and origins of Bitcoin. Some believe it was created by the Chinese Communist Party or benevolent aliens, but one theory that has persisted involves the United States National Security Agency (NSA). This theory is based on the fact that Bitcoin’s source code uses the Secure Hash Algorithm 256 (SHA-256), which was designed by mathematician Glenn M. Lilly under the direction of the NSA. The NSA also published a paper in 1996 describing a Bitcoin-like system for anonymous electronic cash. Some Bitcoiners even speculate that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, could be a reference to the CIA, as “Satoshi” means “central” in Japanese. However, there is no solid evidence to support these theories, and many Bitcoiners dismiss them as unlikely. Former NSA cryptanalyst Jeff Man believes it is feasible that the NSA could have created Bitcoin, but doubts it based on his experience at the agency and its commitment to not spy on U.S. citizens. Ultimately, it is unlikely that we will ever know for certain if the NSA or any other intelligence agency was involved in the creation of Bitcoin.
