The founder of the Bitcoin currency was living quietly in Temple City through the rise and fall of the coin of the digital realm, a magazine reported today.
Newsweek, in its first print edition since late 2012, reported that 64- year-old Satoshi Nakamoto graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a degree in physics and has amassed a fortune of $400 million from his development of the digital currency.
The article quoted Bitcoin's chief scientist, Gavin Andresen, as saying he had worked closely with Nakamoto in developing Bitcoin between June 2010 and April 2011.
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Andresen described the currency as "this huge $8 billion project".
A photo accompanying the article showed Nakamoto's house as a single-story residence with a two-story extension at the rear. A small silver sedan was parked in the driveway.
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The article said Nakamoto was born in Japan in 1949 and emigrated to the United States with his mother, Akiko, and two brothers in 1959. The article said Akiko Nakamoto, now 93, lives with her son at the Temple City address.
Nakamoto has six children from two marriages, according to the article. He separated from his second wife, Grace Mitchell, in 2000, but they are not divorced.
Nakamoto spoke briefly to Newsweek at the entrance to his driveway, flanked by two deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Temple City station.
The magazine said Nakamoto "tacitly acknowledged" his role in the Bitcoin project.
"I am no longer involved in that, and I cannot discuss it," the article quotes Nakamoto as saying.
"It has been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."
—City News Service
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