On Satoshi’s P2P Foundation profile, Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, has a listed birthday of April 5, 1975.
As Gwern explains, April 5 has no outward significance to Satoshi or Bitcoin: “There is, as far as I can tell, nothing special about 5 April; it’s not a round number, it’s not a symbolic date, it’s not your usual fake birthday like 1 January or April Fools, it’s not the day Satoshi signed up for P2P [Foundation] … , it’s not related to when Bitcoin was released (January) or when the domain was registered (August) etc etc. So it seems like a good guess at a birthday.”
Nevertheless, the individual or people behind the Satoshi Nakamoto individuality went to amazing lengths to stay anonymous, and why leak identifying info here?
Upon further evaluation, it appears highly likely that Satoshi decided this date. April 5 occurs to be an essential date in the progression of cash.
The Outlawing of Gold
On April 5, 1933, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102 “forbidding the Hoarding of gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States”. The order declared the act of saving gold a crime in the United States, punishable under a $10,000 fine – nearly $200,000 at price-adjusted 2014 bucks – and imprisonable for 5 to 10 decades.
Roosevelt’s alleged justification for this particular arrangement is somewhat difficult to find within an intelligible form, yet this transcript suggests the decree has been issued for technocratic motives– to prop up the US Dollar and decrease demand for gold, that was being deducted out of national reservations at an unsustainable pace.
Knowledge of the historic episode could be somewhat confusing to a lot of people now, since it’s hard to fit to the normal American history storyline. Maybe this is one reason Executive Order 6102 remains unknown among the general public.
Criticisms of Executive Order 6102
In the last couple of decades, mainstream narratives mostly brushed over this occasion. The normal story once branded many intellectuals who criticized Roosevelt’s decree as libertarian, but one shouldn’t self-identify as libertarian to locate Executive Order 6102 really about.
Progressives familiarized with all the intellectual concept behind their motion may be uncomfortable with all the legal precedent set in making an imprisonable offense with no democratic procedure.
Conservatives familiarized with all the intellectual concept behind their motion could be worried from the usurpation of a governmental authority not delegated to the Federal government in the US Constitution. Not the Congress is granted the power to punish for the hoarding of gold; their power for punishment regarding monies is for fraud (counterfeiting):
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current coin of the United States;
People who adhere to this non-aggression principle (Libertarians) may discover that this executive order to initiate violence from non-violent parties, with no correct claim to aggressed-property.
And moderates, independents, or will almost surely find it disturbingly Orwellian the chief of an supposedly democratic authorities can declare a formerly legal (and exceptionally common) action to become imprisonable for 5 to ten decades, for supposedly technocratic motives, with no public financial proof or research.
Influence on Bitcoin
Executive Order 6102 has been a landmark occasion in the history of cash. It affected generations of people to think about forms of cash not below the management (or possible control) of governmental entities. One of those members were the Cypherpunks, such as Wei Dai (b-money), the very first mention in Satoshi’s authentic whitepaper.
Why April 5, 1975?
April 5 is an date at Bitcoin’s growth. Satoshi’s text contained from the Bitcoin blockchain’s genesis block even appears to resonate with a message that is fitting:
The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks
Lately, Satoshi’s reported arrival, 1975, also appears to get relevant significance. Since Edlund10 points outside, 1975 is the year Executive Order 6102 was reversed and gold possession was re-legalized for ordinary US residents.
TL;DR
That his birthday was reported by Satoshi Nakamoto . This date occurs to correspond to the date of a significant turning point in the growth of Bitcoin. Executive Order 6102 – a decree which makes the carrying of gold an imprisonable crime in the US – has been issued on April 5, 1933. In a apparently corroborating nod, 1975 is the year in which this action was reversed.
It appears extremely improbable that Satoshi picked April 5, 1975 by coincidence.
