EL SALVADOR — New York Times investigative reporter John Carreyrou confronted computer scientist Adam Back at a bitcoin conference in El Salvador, pressing him on findings from an artificial intelligence-driven investigation that identified Back as a leading suspect for the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Back, a 55-year-old computer scientist, denies he is Nakamoto.

Carreyrou used AI models to test his suspicions about the identity of Nakamoto, who published a nine-page white paper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System" 17 years ago, outlining a vision for a decentralized currency that did not rely on a central bank and allowed participants to remain anonymous. Each time his AI tests ran, they produced the name Adam Back.

"Adam Back has the background and all the skills you would need to have created bitcoin. On top of that, he was one of the most vocal proponents of finding a way to create what the cypherpunks used to call electronic cash, a digital version of physical cash that is untraceable and anonymous," Carreyrou said. "And yet, bitcoin was the closest manifestation to the electronic cash vision Adam Back had laid out."

Back was a cypherpunk concerned about privacy, surveillance, and censorship. He distrusted government and sought to create electronic cash that could operate without government involvement and without relying on fiat currencies. His investigation also uncovered shared writing patterns between Back and Nakamoto. "I noticed that they shared a lot of writing ticks, but in particular, they were both pathologically terrible at using hyphens," he said.

Carreyrou also pointed to a timing gap. When Nakamoto first appeared on a cryptography mailing list in late 2008, Back did not post on that list. Nakamoto remained active on that mailing list and other online forums for two and a half years. "It's like Bruce Wayne and Batman. When Batman comes out, Bruce Wayne is nowhere to be seen," he said.

During the interview at the El Salvador conference, Back's face reddened, he fidgeted, and he moved uncomfortably when pressed on certain points. He denied being Nakamoto.

Carreyrou published his findings in an article headlined "My Quest To Solve Bitcoin's Great Mystery." "I'm pretty certain. Might say somewhere between 99 and 100% certain," he said.

Back co-founded a bitcoin treasury company that is in the process of going public. Under U.S. securities law, failure to disclose material information to investors is a prosecutable offense.

Bitcoin has existed for 17 years and has given rise to an industry valued at approximately $2.5 trillion. People in Argentina are using bitcoin as a store of wealth, while criminals have also used it to launder money.