- Coinbase released its documents on Thursday by making a direct listing.
- In the submission, the trading platform mentions the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto as a risk factor.
- The creation of bitcoins from the creator could wreak havoc on the market if Nakamoto sells their collection.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
Coinbase on Thursday released documents for its public debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange via a live listing.
In the submission, the digital trading platform is mentioned as a risk factor by Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto – the pseudonym used by the person or group of people who created bitcoin.
If the identity of the creator is revealed, it could weaken according to bitcoin’s prices.
The submission also refers to Nakamoto’s personal storage of bitcoins, totaling more than 1 million. As of February, a bitcoin was worth about $ 50,000.
Nakamoto could negatively impact Coinbase, the company says, and destabilize the entire crypto market if the creator decides to transfer its bitcoins, which total more than $ 30 billion.
The creator was the first entity to ever mine for bitcoins, and Nakamoto’s stake in the digital currency is almost 5% of the entire bitcoin market, as there are only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined.
Bitcoin’s value is largely driven by its deflationary trends. If 1.1 million bitcoin is released in the market, the price of the digital currency will almost certainly fall.
Similarly, Bitcoin is praised for its decentralized nature. The currency is not considered for any institutions or individuals. If Nakamoto is unmasked, it will place the trading platform under one entity, which could discourage traders who bought into the currency for its decentralization.
The success of Coinbase is largely related to the rise of Bitcoin
In a wink to the Bitcoin creator, Coinbase mentions Nakamoto as one of the recipients of the public submission.
Coinbase – valued at more than $ 100 billion – can attribute much of its success to Bitcoin and its creator, who developed it in 2009 as the first decentralized digital currency.
In the years that followed, Bitcoin largely dominated the world of cryptocurrency and over the past year alone rose by more than 400% to easily remain the largest digital currency per market capitalization.
Coinbase intends to continue to benefit from the rise of the cryptocurrency. The trading platform is the largest in the US and has over 20 million users.
The company’s founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong, referred to the invention of Bitcoin in his letter that was included in the public submission.
“When I first read the Bitcoin White Paper in 2010, I realized that this breakthrough in computer science could be the key to unlocking this vision for the future,” Armstrong said. “Cryptocurrency can offer the core principles of economic freedom to anyone: property rights, healthy money, free trade and the ability to work how and where they want.”
Nakamoto’s name first came to the public’s attention after the white paper was released. The article set out the principles of a decentralized peer-to-peer digital payment system. In 2011, the creator allegedly moved out of the company, but remained a figure of public interest.
There has been a lot of speculation over the years about the creator’s identity. Names like Bitcoin developer Nick Szabo, entrepreneur Craig Wright and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have been suggested as potential creators of the currency.
Although it is unknown if Nakamoto will ever choose to transfer their memory of bitcoins, it seems unlikely that the maker will ever reveal their identity.
By maintaining anonymity, Nakamoto can avoid legal consequences. The undetectable nature of bitcoin has also led to its use for illegal goods and services on the dark web. In January, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for more restrictions on digital currencies such as bitcoin due to their use in illegal financing.
The revelation would also violate one of the fundamentals of bitcoin set out in the white paper. If a creator is unmasked, it will threaten the decentralized nature of the currency – a principle that Nakamoto set out in the middle of his plans for Bitcoin.