Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, at the CoinDesk 2022 Consensus Festival in Austin, Texas, on June 11, 2022. JORDAN VONDERHAAR/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

"Really, he's here?" "Do you really think it's Satoshi?" "He denied it." On the evening of Tuesday, April 14, investors, bankers and international cryptocurrency figures gathered at the Château de Versailles, glass in hand, for a VIP gala evening organized by Paris Blockchain Week, which had privatized the venue. Some had been invited; others paid nearly €5,000 for a ticket to the event.

Under the immense glass roof of the Galerie des Batailles, attention was drawn less toward the 33 paintings "representing all the glories of France" than to a British man in his 50s.

With a backpack over his shoulder and a battered smartphone in hand, he was one of the few not to follow the evening's dress code. Adam Back wore neither tuxedo nor bow tie, but a simple jacket over a black shirt. The stares he attracted were due to the fact that six days earlier, The New York Times had identified him in a lengthy investigation as Satoshi Nakamoto.

One of the greatest mysteries