Musk remains one of the most influential personalities in support of the cryptocurrency industry, known for influencing Dogecoin's price through his tweets. However, he clarified his position on Satoshi Nakamoto's identity in a podcast with Lex Fridman. Here, he said that the person's identity is not as important as the ideas that led to the cryptocurrency. Here's what happened.
Musk denies rumors about Satoshi Nakamoto
Elon Musk, in an interview with Lex Fridman, made it clear in detail that he is not the real Satoshi Nakamoto. Instead, he pointed out that the ideas that led to the evolution of cryptography should be prioritized rather than the person who invented cryptography.
“You can watch the evolution of ideas before the launch of Bitcoin (find out how buy Bitcoins in our guide) and see who wrote, you know, about those ideas, ”Musk told Fridman, who asked if it's a feature or a bug that Nakamoto's identity is still unknown.
Musk also credited Nick Szabo as the real reason that led to the evolution of ideas in cryptography. He addressed him as someone "more responsible for the ideas behind them than anyone else."
"Obviously I don't know who created Bitcoin," Musk said. “It seems Nick Szabo is probably more responsible than anyone else for the evolution of those ideas.
"He claims he is not Nakamoto, but he seems to be responsible for the ideas behind him more than anyone else."
Szabo is known for inventing Bit Gold and the smart contracts which later became an influential part of Ethereum. Szabo has often received questions about his ties to Satoshi. Earlier he said: "I'm afraid you are wrong to refer to me as Satoshi, but I'm used to it."
Satoshi Nakamoto's identity is still shrouded in mystery after years of speculation. While some believe it may be a single entity behind the invention of Bitcoin, others speculate that Satoshi Nakamoto was a group.
Musk predicts Mars will work with cryptocurrency
However, it wasn't all about Bitcoin. Musk also touched on the intergalactic potential of cryptocurrencies in the podcast.
With SpaceX's DOGE-1 mission set to put Dogecoin on the moon, Musk considered what cryptocurrency would look like on an inhabited Mars - another of his projects.
“I think Mars itself will need to have a different currency. I don't know if Mars would have a cryptocurrency as a thing, but it seems likely, even if it would be some kind of thing located on Mars, ”Musk added. "The future of Mars should depend on the Martians."
