On November 23, 2020, Doncho Karaivanov published a detailed analysis on Chain Bulletin arguing that Satoshi Nakamoto was based in London while developing Bitcoin. The article combines multiple lines of evidence.
The Times headline evidence:
The Genesis Block contains the message: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” Karaivanov demonstrates that this exact headline appeared only in the UK print edition of The Times of London — not in US distributions, which carried substantially different content and layout. In 2008, 770,000 of The Times’ 1.8 million print readers (43%) were London-based, making the capital statistically the most likely access point for the physical newspaper.
Timestamp analysis:
The study analyzed 742 activity instances:
- 539 BitcoinTalk posts (November 2009 – December 2010)
- 169 SourceForge commits (October 2009 – December 2010)
- 34 mailing list emails (October 2008 – December 2010)
All timestamps were converted from UTC to three candidate time zones: GMT (London), US Eastern, and US Pacific. The combined analysis revealed patterns consistent with a GMT-based schedule, though the night-owl behavior observed made timezone attribution somewhat ambiguous when viewed in isolation.
Linguistic markers:
The article identifies British English conventions in Satoshi’s writing:
- British spellings: “organise,” “colour,” “neighbour”
- British colloquialisms: use of “bloody”
- These patterns suggest British authorship or extended residency in the UK
Conclusion:
While no single piece of evidence is conclusive, the convergence of The Times physical newspaper access, GMT-consistent activity patterns, and British linguistic markers builds a circumstantial case for London as Satoshi’s base of operations during Bitcoin’s development.