The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may have met with Bitcoin’s elusive creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, years ago—or so a provocative new legal claim suggests. If proven true, this revelation could unravel one of the most enduring mysteries of the digital age.
Attorney James Murphy, known on X (formerly Twitter) as MetaLawMan, has filed a lawsuit against the DHS under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), demanding access to documents, emails, and notes allegedly linked to a meeting with the person—or persons—behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Origin of the Speculation
Murphy’s lawsuit is based on a presentation given by Rana Saoud, a former DHS investigator, at the OffshoreAlert Conference in Miami in April 2019. In her talk, Saoud claimed that DHS agents had traveled to California and interviewed someone they believed to be Nakamoto, along with three other individuals involved in the development of Bitcoin.
“The agents flew to California and determined that he [Satoshi Nakamoto] was not working alone. They met with him and three others to understand how it all works and why it was created,” Saoud stated in the presentation, which remains publicly available on YouTube.
Murphy now argues that if this meeting truly occurred, it must have generated official records. “If the interview actually happened, as the DHS official claims, there should be documents reflecting its content,” he said in a thread posted on X.
Backlash from the Crypto Community
Murphy’s FOIA request has sparked controversy within the cryptocurrency space. The anonymous crypto investigator ZachXBT was particularly critical:
“Nobody needs to know who Satoshi is. If you’re trying to get documents through a lawsuit just to possibly unmask Satoshi, you look like a clout-chasing clown trying to get clicks.”
Others, however, view the situation more neutrally. Given the growing tension between privacy and state surveillance, some believe that transparency regarding government actions in the crypto space is both reasonable and necessary.
Why Now?
The lawsuit comes at a time when regulatory pressure on cryptocurrencies in the U.S. is intensifying. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to pursue enforcement actions against unregistered crypto projects, while Congress is actively debating multiple bills aimed at regulating digital assets.
The DHS, for its part, has expanded its operations in the areas of cybercrime and cryptocurrency-linked money laundering. A March 2025 DHS report once again connected Bitcoin and other digital currencies to international cyberattacks—reiterating concerns about the anonymity of the technology’s creators.
Who Is Satoshi—And Why Does It Matter?
Since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto has remained an enigma. Theories about Nakamoto’s true identity abound, ranging from tech billionaires like Elon Musk to deceased cryptography pioneers—none of which have been definitively proven.
From a technical perspective, Satoshi no longer plays an active role in Bitcoin’s ecosystem. The last known communication from Nakamoto dates back to 2011. His original Bitcoin holdings—estimated at over 1 million BTC (currently worth around $70 billion USD)—have never been moved, a fact many interpret as evidence of either Nakamoto’s death or complete withdrawal from public life.