The identity of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, remains unknown after 17 years. While candidates like Adam Back, Peter Todd, and Hal Finney have been suggested, only Craig Wright has been formally ruled out by a UK court. In April 2026, The New York Times highlighted Adam Back as a primary candidate based on cryptographic similarities.
Blockchain researcher Sergio Lerner identified a miner known as 'Patoshi,' who accumulated approximately 1.1 million BTC across 22,000 blocks. This figure is currently the largest BTC holder, surpassing entities like Coinbase and BlackRock, though it is not conclusively proven that Patoshi is Satoshi Nakamoto.
The collapse of Mt. Gox in February 2014 led to the disappearance of around 850,000 BTC. While 200,000 BTC were later recovered from old wallets, US prosecutors allege that Russian nationals stole and laundered roughly 647,000 BTC, though the full details of the theft remain unresolved.
The death of QuadrigaCX founder Gerald Cotten in December 2018 left millions of dollars in customer funds inaccessible. An investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission revealed Cotten had transferred client funds to personal accounts and used them to cover trading losses and personal expenses.
Ruja Ignatova, the founder of OneCoin, disappeared in October 2017 after allegedly defrauding victims of more than $4 billion. The FBI added her to its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list in 2022 and offers a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to her arrest.
Other notable mysteries include James Howells' lost hard drive with a Bitcoin fortune, the 2016 DAO hack involving 3.6 million ETH, the theft of $415 million from FTX wallets during its bankruptcy, and the suspicious death of MakerDAO developer Nikolai Mushegian in October 2022.