导读：
现在的虚拟货币越来越多，但是他的鼻祖是比特币，然而又有多少人了解他的创造者呢。
Brain scan
脑部扫描
Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin’s enigmatic creator
中本聪，比特币的神秘创造者
Thepseudonymousinventor may never be identified
这个匿名发明者可能永远不会被人识破
On paper—or at least on the blockchain—Satoshi Nakamoto is one of the richest people on the planet.
在书面上——或者至少在区块链上——中本聪是这个星球上最富有的人之一。
Bitcoin is a semi-anonymous currency and MrNakamoto is a pseudonymous person, so it is hard to be sure; but he isgenerally reckoned to own around 1.1m bitcoin, or around 5% of the total numberthat will ever exist.
比特币是一种半匿名的货币，而中本聪是一个匿名者，所以很难确定；但据估计，他大约拥有110万比特币，大约占总数的5％。
When bitcoin hit its peak of over $19,000, that made him worth a round $20bn.
当比特币达到超过19000美元的高峰时，他所拥有比特币的价值约为200亿美元。
But Mr Nakamoto, though actively involved with his brain child in its early history, has been silent since .
尽管中本聪在其早期历史中积极地参与了他的发明，但自以来他一直保持沉默。
An army of amateur detectives has been trying to work out who he really is, but there is frustratingly little to go on.
一支业余侦探队一直在试图弄清楚他到底是谁，但令人沮丧的是很少有线索可以调查下去。
While developing bitcoin he claimed to be male, in his late 30s and living in Japan, but even that information is suspect.
在开发比特币时，他声称自己是男性，在三十多岁时住在日本，但即使这些信息也是可疑的。
There are indications that he may have lived in an American time zone, but his English occasionallycontains British idioms.
有迹象表明，他可能曾住在美国的时区，但他的英语偶尔也会带有英国习语。
Some of his goldbug-like comments about central banks that “debase the currency” and the evils of fractional-reserve banking ledearly cyber-libertarian bitcoin enthusiasts to claim him as one of their own.
他对央行“贬值货币”和部分储备银行业务的弊端的一些评论使得早期的网络自由主义比特币爱好者声称他（中本聪）是他们中的一员。
One thing is certain: he values his privacy.
有一件事是可以肯定的：他很重视他的隐私。
To register he used Tor, an online track-covering tool used by black-marketeers, journalists andpolitical dissidents.
为了注册 ，他使用了Tor，这是一个由黑市商人、记者和持不同政见者使用的在线追踪工具。
Still, the legions of sleuths have turned up various candidates,ranging from Japanese mathematicians to Irish graduate students.
尽管如此，侦探军团们还是找到了各种各样的候选人，从日本数学家到爱尔兰研究生。
In Newsweek,a business magazine, fingered Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, an Americanengineer.
，商业杂志《新闻周刊》称，中本聪实际上是美国的工程师多利安·普伦蒂斯。
Heemphaticallydenied the story, and the next day a forum account previously used by Mr Nakamoto posted, for the first time in five years, to say, “I am not Dorian Nakamoto”—though there are doubts about that account, too.
他断然否认了这一说法，第二天，中本聪曾经使用的一个论坛账号，五年来首次发布消息，“我不是多利安·普伦蒂斯”——尽管有人对这个账号也心存疑问。
Attention also focused on Hal Finney, an expert incryptography, an experienced programmer and a dedicated cypherpunk.
人们还把注意力放在哈尔·芬尼身上，他是一位密码专家、一位经验丰富的程序员以及一位专业的密码朋克。
He was the recipient in the first-ever transaction conducted in bitcoin, with Mr Nakamoto as the sender.
他是比特币首次进行交易的收件人，中本聪则是发件人。
He died in .
他于去世。
Andy Greenberg, a journalist, who studied private e-mails between Mr Finney and Mr Nakamoto, concluded that he was probably not bitcoin’s creator.
记者安迪·格林伯格曾研究过芬尼和中本聪之间的私人电子邮件，他得出的结论是，他可能不是比特币的创造者。
And Mr Finney himself always denied that he was Mr Nakamoto.
并且芬尼本人也一直否认他是中本聪。
Conversely, in Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, explicitly claimed that he was the man everyone was looking for.
与此相反，在，澳大利亚计算机科学家克雷格·莱特明确声称他就是所有人都在寻找的那个人（中本聪）。
He invited several news organisations, including The Economist, to witness him prove his claim by using crypto graphic keys that supposedly belonged to Mr Nakamoto.
他邀请了包括《经济学人》在内的几家新闻机构，来见证他使用据称属于中本聪的加密密钥来证明他的主张。
He did not convince his audience, so he said he would settle the matter by moving a bitcoin from Mr Nakamoto’s stash.
但他没有使观众信服，所以他说他将通过从中本聪的藏匿处转移比特币来再次证明。
He later decided against it when an online story suggested he could face arrest if he confirmed he was bitcoin’s creator, on the ground of “enabling terrorism”.
他后来决定不这么做了，因为一个网络传言暗示，如果他证实了自己就是比特币的创造者，那么他很有可能因“支持恐怖主义”而遭到逮捕。
But the story turned out to be a fake.
但事实证明，这个传言是假的。
According to another theory, Mr Nakamoto is actually a group of people.
根据另一种理论，中本聪实际上是一群人。
But for now his, or their, identity remains a mystery.
但就目前而言，他或他们的身份仍然是一个谜。
Some think his withdrawal was a matter of principle, to underline the point of adecentralisedcurrency.
一些人认为他的退出是一个原则问题，以强调分散货币的意义。
Perhaps he simply wants a quiet life.
或许他只是想要一个平静的生活。
橙色标注词为重难点词汇
重难点词汇：
pseudonymous [sʊ"dɑnəməs] adj. 匿名的；使用笔名的；使用假名的
frustratingly ["frʌstretɪŋlɪ] adv. 令人泄气地；使人沮丧地
occasionally [o"keʒənəli] adv. 偶尔；间或
emphatically [emˈfætɪkli] adv. 着重地；强调地；断然地
cryptography [krɪp"tɑgrəfi] n. 密码学；密码使用法
decentralise [,di:"sentrəlaiz] vt. 分散；分权
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