Mike Nudelman/Business Insider
The Bitcoin community is not thrilled.
Writing in Newsweek, she talked to, among others, Gavin Andresen, one of Bitcoin's volunteer developers who interacted with Nakamoto in the digital currency's infancy.
This morning, Andresen took to Twitter to voice his disapproval of Goodman's reporting:
I'm disappointed Newsweek decided to dox the Nakamoto family, and regret talking to Leah.
- Gavin Andresen (@gavinandresen) March 6, 2014
Others responded.
@gavinandresen Poor guy, the floodgates are going to open. #bitcoin is now tethered indefinitely to the man and his actions.
- bitcoinG (@GeorgiBitcoing) March 6, 2014
@gavinandresen Bitcoiners need to STOP talking to press or create a media strategy with prepared statements.
- Qikcoin (@qikcoin) March 6, 2014
McGrath Goodman is not the first to attempt to attempt to track down the man behind the global financial phenomenon. But those previous efforts all failed, in large part because those in the Bitcoin community itself feared the hunt would divert attention from the cryptocurrency's potential.
As a result, some are predicting Newsweek will face backlash from Bitcoin evangelists.
@CryptoCobain this is all gonna backlash on Newsweek so hard... pissing off an entire community of geeks and hackers is always a smart move.
- Tagada (@elflo) March 6, 2014
Some now fear for Nakamoto himself, since he is estimated to be worth $650 million.
.@marcvanway even if it's NOT him, she still painted a 1,000,000BTC target on this man's home... It's possibly worse if it's not him....
- CRYPTO CO?AIN (@CryptoCobain) March 6, 2014