Just recently, the crypto community discovered a bitcointalk.org forum user who signed a message from bitcoin block 1,018, and the signer associated the signature with an address first seen in 2022. Moreover, further investigation and evidence have tied block 1,018 to the now-deceased computer scientist Hal Finney’s bitcoin transactions. Two days ago, another signature and message associated with an old bitcoin address were published, and this time around it was revealed by the ‘pharma bro’ and former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli. The latest message makes a bold claim that says that criminal cartel boss and former programmer, Paul Le Roux, sent Hal Finney the first bitcoin transaction on Jan. 12, 2009.
Another January 2009 bitcoin address is signed – this time the verified message was shared by ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli
Amidst the chaos surrounding the collapse of FTX, the crypto community has noticed a strange message bearing a signature from a bitcointalk.org forum user named “OneSignature”. The message was signed by a user with the address “1NChf”, which is linked to the Coinbase reward of 1,018. Then to prove that the user still exists today, the message contained the address of 2022 bitcoins and OneSignature signed a message with the newly created address. Upon further investigation, Bitcoin.com News found that Onesignature’s 1NChf address and block 1,018 are linked to Hal Finney’s bitcoin transaction. This includes a great deal of alleged bitcoin blocks, including Finney mining and BTC transfers of the computer scientist.
The problem is that Finney passed away in 2014, after dealing with years of suffering tied to his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) complications. This means that Finney himself did not sign the transaction, but the wallet could still be controlled by his remaining family members and estate. The estate could have sold the wallet as well in its entirety, even if it was empty and for a considerable amount of value. After Onesignature’s revelation, however, another signing appeared on the web, and this time it was introduced by the former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli. The convicted felon and ‘pharma bro’ is a controversial figure and in more recent times, he’s been involved in numerous crypto-related discussions.
On December 13, 2022, Shkreli published a post on his Substack blog, and the blog post was titled: “Paul Le Roux is Satoshi.” In the post, Shkreli shares a bitcoin address that is linked to the message and signature published in Shkreli’s blog. The address is “1Q2TW”, the same address that Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 bitcoins from block 9 to Hal Finney on January 12, 2009. Shkreli’s message states: “This transaction was made by Paul Leroux to Hal Finney on Jan 12, 2009 #bitcoin. The message also includes a signature that proves the signer has access to the 1Q2TW private key. Shkreli was asked in the comments section where he got the message, but the former hedge fund manager did not disclose that information.
Software Developer Greg Maxwell Pokes Holes in Shkreli’s Evidence
A number of commenters in Shkreli’s blog post criticize him for not sharing where he got the message and signature set. “The failure to answer this question – even by briefly saying why he cannot directly say, is very telling,” one person wrote. “We can see Martin has been going through the comments.” Additionally, Shkreli is confronted by the bitcoin developer Greg Maxwell, who explains that the signature type used to sign the message was not around when Finney was developing. “So it was presumably created by someone who obtained Hal’s private keys after his death,” Maxwell insisted. “You can see that address was actively sending transactions long after Hal’s death so *unambiguously* someone else has control of the key.”
Maxwell’s comment is correct as the 1Q2TW address made an outgoing transaction long after Finney’s death. A transfer of 0.034337 BTC was sent from 1Q2TW on Sep 6th, 2017 at 1:42 AM (ET). Maxwell further explains to ‘Pharma Bro’ that the signature he posted is “not compatible with the bitcoin blockchain, it is a new signature type we introduced specifically for message signing, which was first introduced on Nov. 0 was released in 2011.” The software programmer also says that the specific format is an “Electrum-style” scheme, which “wasn’t even proposed until mid-2013,” Maxwell emphasized. “I’m not sure when it was first implemented.” Maxwell continued:
By the time signmessage was created in late 2011 Hal was profoundly disabled and only able to use a computer with someone else’s help, it wasn’t widely used until years after. Other commenters have pointed out that this address was active in 2017 so that gives an obvious explanation: The message wasn’t signed by Hal but whomever is using his keys now.
Shkreli claims he’s going to ‘reach out to Finney’s family’ to see who owns the private keys
Shkreli replied to Maxwell and negotiated with the software developer. Shkreli said, “That’s very helpful, I’m going up to Finney’s family to see who has these keys and why they would sign the messages.” The “Pharma Bro” said, “From what I know about the Finesse, it doesn’t look like they’ll be larping and signing random signings or selling major pairs.” Maxwell commented that the Phinney family was attacked by extortionists at one point, and he further added that some of Hal’s bitcoins were sold. “It’s possible they did this by selling the keys (or the entire wallet) — it would be a convenient way of doing it that wouldn’t require figuring out how to use it,” Maxwell said.
The name “Paul Le Roux” refers to the former cartel boss, DEA informant, and software programmer who resides in jail after he was arrested for various crimes in 2012. Le Roux has been considered a Satoshi suspect for many years now, and people believe he had the technical know-how to create Bitcoin. His name was first associated with Satoshi after circumstantial evidence appeared during the Kleiman v. Wright lawsuit.
One of the documents in the lawsuit (document 187) highlights an unredacted footnote showing a URL address linked to Paul Le Roux’s Wikipedia page. This document and the fact that Le Roux was highly respected as an innovative software engineer and cryptographer has led many to believe that Le Roux was Satoshi. For example, investigative journalist Evan Ratliff said in an archived Bitcoin.com podcast that he thought Le Roux was “the most reliable Satoshi ever.” Ratliff also wrote about his theory in a Wired article published in July 2016.
After further reviewing Maxwell’s commentary, Shkreli replied and concluded that he really did not care who Satoshi Nakamoto is. “Very interesting,” Shkreli wrote back to Maxwell. “I have no dog in this fight, and do not care if Satoshi is Le Roux, Finney, neither, or both. It seems very likely the signature was created recently by someone who has gained access to it.”
