The facts as reported point toward Mr. Nakamotos role in the founding of Bitcoin, it said.

Whatever the case, whether or not Dorian S. Nakamoto is the Satoshi Nakamoto, the story gave more prominence to the digital crypto-currency that was created to revolutionize payments and banking worldwide. In the five years since it was created, Bitcoin has trumped a score of other startup virtual currencies to gain viability as a means of exchange and investment, if not global acceptance. The structure designed for it automatically increases the supply and keeps a record of each coin while protecting the identity of owners. Transferring Bitcoin to others, for a purchase for instance, is simple and does not require a bank as an intermediary a key goal of Nakamotos design. The Bitcoin network infrastructure is distributed over the massive computing power of Bitcoin users, an ingenious solution that ensures the decentralized network grows steadily with the currencys usage. Its rise to popularity has been fast. It traded for cents per Bitcoin for the first two years of its existence, and then began a frenzied climb that took it to $40 a coin in late 2012 and $1,100 last year, before falling off to the current $620 level. Avenues for usage have widened. The initial sprinkle of vendors accepting it for payment has multiplied to hundreds, including travel agents, restaurants, and even ATM cash machines. Last week the Winklevoss brothers, Bitcoin investors, announced that they had bought tickets into space on Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic aircraft using Bitcoin. But challenges remain. For one, those accepting Bitcoin for payment continue to price their goods first in other currencies $250,000 each for the Virgin space tickets, for instance. Bitcoins anonymity and hidden digital tracks have made it an avenue for money launderers and drug sales, and authorities have made arrests and shut down exchanges hosting such activity. Several Bitcoin exchanges have shut down claiming they are victims of electronic theft of the currency. Mt Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange, collapsed in February after claiming hackers robbed it of $300 million worth of Bitcoin.

Now some Bitcoin fans are calling for regulation to protect owners of the currency before scandal undermines it. But many of those who support Bitcoin have done so precisely because it was outside of the world of government controls.