With a speech at a private event at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on Friday, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson ignited a firestorm within the Bitcoin community by alleging that cryptocurrency was in fact developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While championing Bitcoin’s transformative potential for financial sovereignty, Carlson suggested its origins might be less than organic.

Was Bitcoin Created By The CIA?

Carlson pondered, “Crypto people aren’t just in it to make a buck. They’re in it to change the world forever. These are not shallow people. These are people who can answer every single question except who was Satoshi, which they don’t answer. Someone should answer that. Did nope. I think we know.”

The former Fox news host also hinted that there was a person in the room who knows the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. However, he does not believe this person. “Anyway, in fact, I have a friend who’s probably sitting here who told me he did know, but I don’t believe him.”

Despite this, Tucker continues to view Bitcoin as the premier instrument for facilitating financial freedom, even if it was originally developed by the CIA. He concluded, “and I don’t care if it was the CIA. It doesn’t matter. The idea is still a great idea. Obviously it was the CIA. I think we all know that. It’s like Signal. They got there first. It’s a honeytap.”

Tucker says the CIA invented Bitcoin

What is more likely, some secret guy with a Japanese name or a powerful government built it? pic.twitter.com/6jn6e3MfVv

— Jake Shields (@jakeshieldsajj) July 31, 2024

The response to Carlson’s comments was swift and varied. David Icke, a well-known English conspiracy theorist, linked the allegation to broader political movements, questioning, “If the CIA started Bitcoin, Tucker, and now Trump and his Silicon Valley coterie are pushing it, then do you think by any chance that there might be more to know?”

Contrasting sharply with Icke’s intrigue, Saifedean Ammous, author of “The Bitcoin Standard,” dismissed the notion of hidden layers: “Bitcoin is software you can read and audit yourself. There is nothing more to it than the software you read and it’s been read by thousands for fifteen years.”

Similarly, John Hawkins, author of “101 Things All Young Adults Should Know”, criticized Carlson’s claim as baseless: “Tucker doesn’t have the slightest idea. He’s just wildly speculating based on nothing.”

Tyler Durden, a long-standing figure in the community, refuted the CIA connection, arguing that the agency’s involvement came later with Ethereum: “It wasn’t CIA. They came in late with Ethereum because someone beat them to the punch with Bitcoin. So they’ve basically spent the last decade trying to build and kill crypto around Bitcoin which in turn would bring it down too. Unfortunately that hasn’t worked now they’re fucked.”

The theory that BTC was a government creation has circulated within Bitcoin circles for years, driven by the mysterious persona of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creator. Nakamoto’s identity has remained an enigma, prompting numerous theories about their true identity and intentions. Nakamoto’s last known public communications trace back to December 2010 and early 2011. After this period, Nakamoto handed over control of the BTC repository and network alert key to prominent members of the community, including Gavin Andresen.

In April 2011, Gavin Andresen, one of the key developers of Bitcoin, announced that he was invited to speak at a CIA conference. This event has been cited by some as a potential trigger for Nakamoto’s withdrawal from the project. Andresen’s invitation to speak at the CIA conference might have concerned Nakamoto, possibly prompting his retreat from public involvement to avoid scrutiny from government agencies.

At press time, BTC traded at $63,856.