Who is Nicolas van Saberhagen?
1/12Dec 2012: CryptoNote v1.0 whitepaper drops, penned by "Nicolas van Saberhagen" via nvsaberhagen@gmail.com. Introduces ring signatures, stealth addresses—fixes Bitcoin's traceability flaws. No author traces; pure cypherpunk mystery.
Sep 2013: CryptoNote v2.0 whitepaper released, refining the protocol's math for untraceable txns. Still anonymous, but seeds privacy coins. Bytecoin team (unknown devs) quietly implements it.
Jul 4, 2012: Bytecoin genesis block mined—first CryptoNote chain. But it's a ghost network: 80% premine hidden for years. Public "launch" hits Nov 2013 on Bitcointalk, sparking hype for anonymous BTC alternative.
Apr 18, 2014: Backlash erupts over Bytecoin's premine scam. Community forks it as Bitmonero (later Monero) for fair launch—no ICO, no insiders. "thankful_for_today" leads; instant community forms.
May 2014: Bitmonero renamed Monero (Esperanto for "coin"). Core team assembles: fluffypony (Riccardo Spagni), smooth, & anons. Drops Bytecoin baggage, commits to default privacy.
May 17, 2014: Andrey Sabelnikov, CryptoNote codebase OG (hired by Bytecoin), bails amid drama. Launches Boolberry—another fork with upgrades. Later inspires Zano. He's the closest to a "Saberhagen collaborator" we know.
Oct 5, 2014: Explosive Bitcointalk post "Blowing the lid off the CryptoNote/Bytecoin scam" exposes premine details. Bytecoin FUD ramps up; Monero weathers DDoS attacks, solidifies as privacy king.
2014-2015: Speculation swirls—Saberhagen = Satoshi? ByteCoin forum user? Ties to Nick Szabo? Nothing sticks. Monero devs (Sarang Noether et al.) audit code: clean, no backdoors.
2016: Darknet markets pivot to Monero for fungibility. Zcash launches (optional privacy), but Monero's mandatory rings win. Saberhagen's email ghosts forever.
2019: fluffypony steps back; Monero hits all-time highs amid privacy wars. Upgrades like RingCT (2017) & bulletproofs (2018) build on Saberhagen's foundation.
2025 (today): Monero thrives at ~$320/XMR, resisting regs. Saberhagen? Still a legend—likely a solo Eastern Euro cypherpunk. Identity hunts = fun, but the protocol endures. Privacy > profit.
What do you think—who was he?
