A British computer scientist has denied reports that he is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. An investigation by The New York Times used biographical details and writing style comparisons to make the case that Adam Back was the cryptocurrency’s enigmatic founder.

Who is Adam Back?
London-born Back, 55, “has long been seen as a potential candidate to be Nakamoto”, said The Times. “A pioneer of early digital asset research in the 1990s”, he “has a long-standing background in cryptography, the techniques used to secure and verify digital information”. This includes developing Hashcash, “a proof-of-work system that later influenced Bitcoin” and was referenced by Nakamoto in his Bitcoin “white paper”.

Back dismissed The New York Times’ use of writing analyses to link him to Nakamoto as “a combination of coincidence and similar phrases from people with similar experience and interests”.

Why is Nakamoto’s identity a secret?
Nakamoto has only ever communicated under their pseudonym, and since 2011, has made no public statements, giving them a “cult-like status among crypto enthusiasts”, said The Times.

This anonymity is very on-brand for Bitcoin. If the founder’s identity were known, they could become a leader or figurehead, contradicting the cryptocurrency’s core principle of decentralisation. There is a security element, too: Nakamoto is thought to own $78 billion worth of bitcoin, so remaining anonymous lessens the risk of extortion or kidnapping.

Has anyone else been suggested?
In 2014, Newsweek identified a Japanese-American systems engineer called Dorian Nakamoto as the creator of Bitcoin, a claim that has “largely been debunked”, said the BBC.

The following year, Wired suggested Nakamoto could be a pseudonym for Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist. Wright asserted that he was indeed Nakamoto, until a UK High Court judge ruled that he was not, and must not claim to be, the Bitcoin founder.

In 2024, an HBO documentary alleged that Canadian crypto expert Peter Todd was the real Nakamoto, a suggestion that he described as “ludicrous”. It’s also possible that the mysterious founder is not one person, but rather a team of developers or cryptographers.

Donald Trump’s political rivals denounced him as “dangerous and mentally unbalanced” and an “unhinged madman” after he directed a string of expletives at the Iranian regime. “Open the Fin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell!” the US president said in an Easter Sunday message on Truth Social. But Trump is far from the only potty-mouthed politician, and trends suggest that swearing is shifting from taboo to mainstream on the political stage.

‘Profanity seal’
Woodrow Wilson “broke the profanity seal” in 1919, when the then president recalled making a “conspicuous ass of himself”, said Joseph Phillips, a politics lecturer at Cardiff University. “Since then, presidents, their seconds-in-command, and presidential hopefuls have used profanity at least 692 times” – but 87% of those instances occurred in the last ten years.

During a political rally in 2025, Trump “used profanity at least four times”, said Steven Sloan in The Independent. J.D. Vance has also sworn publicly, and former vice president Kamala Harris “earned a roar of approval from her audience” last October when she said that “these mother****” in the Trump administration “are crazy”. The “volley of vulgarities underscores an ever-coarsening political environment” on social media, where posts that “evoke the strongest emotions are rewarded with the most engagement”.

‘Anti-intellectualism’
There is a “misguided belief” that “profanity is more ‘honest’ or ‘authentic’ than polite speech”, said Solomon D. Stevens in the Illinois Journal-Courier. There’s also “an anti-intellectualism at work”, as politicians who swear imply that those who don’t are “putting on airs”. Yet while some intellectuals can “certainly be pretentious”, “refraining from coarse language” is not in itself a sign of that.

Politicians aren’t “bawling swear words because they can’t contain their outrage”, said Barton Swaim in The Wall Street Journal. They do it because, “like preteen boys trying to sound tough”, they believe “the odd public expletive enhances their authenticity” and gives them “an air of pugnacity apropos to the moment”. But they are mistaken. “Most Americans still prefer their leaders to talk like grown-ups.”

Indian voters cross the Brahmaputra River by boat in Assam to cast their ballots in state legislative elections. Two states and a union territory are going to the polls, in contests that will test the support for Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Biju Boro / AFP / Getty Images

Glastonbury may be in its fallow year but there are loads of other UK music festivals to get excited about in 2026. From Leicestershire to Suffolk, and London to the Isle of Wight, here are some of the best with tickets still available.

LIDO, east London
It’s only in its second year but LIDO has already “cemented itself as one of the new favourites for true music lovers”, said Becky Burgum in The i Paper. Taking place in Victoria Park, it has a maximum daily capacity of 35,000, making it feel more “intimate” than other London festivals. CMAT, Maribou State and Bombay Bicycle Club headline.

Download, Leicestershire
“Last year, Leicestershire police asked punters to remove their smartwatches” at Download because all the commotion was making them send out “automatic 999 calls”, said Ed Cunningham in Time Out. This year, expect more “heaviosity”, with the likes of Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses and Linkin Park on the bill. 

Latitude, Suffolk
Staged a “stone’s throw from the Suffolk coast”, in the sweeping Henham Park estate, Latitude is celebrating its 20th anniversary, said The Times. Headliners this year include The Last Dinner Party, Teddy Swims, Lewis Capaldi, The Flaming Lips and Self Esteem.

Isle of Wight Festival
The line-up of headliners here “offers the perfect arc for a festival weekend”, said Michael Cragg in The Guardian. On Friday, enjoy “emotive, sing-along bops with Lewis Capaldi”. The following day, Calvin Harris will boost energy levels with “frenetic, star-studded bangers”, and Sunday’s “dark-hued comedown” is “perfectly soundtracked by enduring goth titans The Cure”. 

The right-wing plot to ruin Britain (again) is being exposed
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The i Paper
The “elite business class” wants the UK to “become more like the hideously Darwinian USA”, writes Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, and “they have their perfect champions in our hard-right and right-wing parties”. We see the “nightmare effects” of the right’s “ideological obsession” with deregulation “everywhere around us” – from “dangerous cladding” and polluted waterways to hedge funds asset-stripping care homes. Further deregulation would “turn the country into a heartless, lawless bushland”, where “we, the little people, will be unsafe, unheard and unseen”.

Did America lose yet another war?
Harlan Ullman on Al Jazeera 
It seems America is again failing “to achieve successful outcomes” in war, writes Harlan Ullman of the Atlantic Council think tank. With Iran, Donald Trump has repeated the “hubris” and “flawed strategic judgement” shown by past US presidents in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Now, reality has taken hold” as “Iran’s strategy of winning by not losing” bites. Trump “has trapped himself with no good options”: attacking Iran “will prove to be the most catastrophic” presidential decision he’s made.

Sarah Ferguson just made a desperate move to escape Andrew – no chance it’ll work
Adam Toms in the Daily Express
There are “whispers” that Sarah Ferguson has distanced herself from her ex-husband and isn’t “in the best of states”, writes Adam Toms. Apparently, she’s “sofa-surfing” and her hair has “grey roots”. This “hiding away” could “never make a difference to the amount of media coverage” she’ll face if more stories come out about her and Jeffrey Epstein. She must “issue a full, unreserved apology” and tell officials what she knows, or she looks “like a coward”.