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 The BBC reported on Monday that Wright gave some technical proof
demonstrating that he had access to blocks of bitcoins known to have
been created by bitcoin's creator.
Unmasking Nakamoto could be significant for the future of bitcoin, a
computer-generated, digital alternative to other currencies that has
attracted the interest of banks, speculators, criminals and
regulators.
Researchers believe Nakamoto may be holding up to one million
bitcoins, which is worth about $440 million, and the price of the
cryptocurrency could plunge if that was to be unloaded.
Wright declined requests from The Economist to provide further proof
that he was Nakamoto.
"Our conclusion is that Mr Wright could well be Mr Nakamoto, but
that important questions remain," The Economist said. "Indeed, it
may never be possible to establish beyond reasonable doubt who
really created bitcoin."
The BBC said prominent members of the bitcoin community had
confirmed Wright's claim. "I was the main part of it, but other
people helped me," the BBC quoted Wright as saying.
 Hopes that bitcoin would become broadly used helped buoy its price
to more than $1,000 in December 2013, when its market capitalization
was $13 billion.
But the market cap has retreated since then, to about $7 billion
currently. Bitcoin fell more than 3 percent after news of Wright's
claims, from $454.89 to below $440, before recovering slightly.
Wright told The Economist he would exchange bitcoin slowly to avoid
pushing down its price.
"If Mr Wright is in possession of Satoshi's original nearly one
million bitcoins, he will be for sure closely watched by investors
trying to guess his future moves," Tomas Forgac, who runs bitcoin
startup Coin of Sale, told Reuters.
HOME RAIDED
In December, police raided Wright's Sydney home and office after
Wired magazine named him as the probable creator of bitcoin and
holder of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of the
cryptocurrency, which has attracted the interest of banks,
speculators, criminals and regulators.
The treatment of bitcoins for tax purposes in Australia has been the
subject of considerable debate. The Australian Tax Office (ATO)
ruled in December 2014 that cryptocurrency should be considered an
asset, rather than a currency, for capital gains tax purposes.
On Monday, the ATO said it had no comment while police were not
immediately available for comment.
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In a blog post dated Monday, Wright appeared to out himself as
bitcoin founder by posting a technical explanation, including
examples of code, of the process by which he created the currency.
He thanked all those who had supported the project from its
inception.
"This incredible community’s passion and intellect and perseverance
have taken my small contribution and nurtured it, enhanced it,
breathed life into it," he wrote. "You have given the world a great
gift. Thank you."
However Wright did not make a clear admission that he was Nakamoto.
"Satoshi is dead," he said. "But this is only the beginning."
Unlike traditional currency, bitcoins are not distributed by a
central bank or backed by physical assets like gold, but are "mined"
by users who use computers to calculate increasingly complex
algorithmic formulas.
If Wright is Nakamoto he "is now the leader of a movement", said
Roberto Capodieci, a Singapore-based entrepreneur working on the
blockchain, the technology underlying the currency.
That movement ranges from libertarian enthusiasts to banks
experimenting with cryptocurrencies, all of which pay homage in some
way to Nakamoto's writings.
Top of the list of outstanding issues is the future of bitcoin
itself, where two groups are debating over changes to the size of
the blocks in the blockchain, the digital ledger that stores
transactions.
"He may help to settle the issues internal to the bitcoin community:
block size and new node protocols," Capodieci told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Matt Siegel in Sydney; Editing by Nick
Macfie and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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