Adam Back Rejects Satoshi Nakamoto as Bitcoin’s Final Word

Satoshi Bitcoin scaling quotes prove nothing, Adam Back argues, because the pseudonymous creator contradicted himself repeatedly and was sometimes simply wrong.

The Blockstream CEO fired back this week at a viral thread citing old forum posts as proof that Satoshi Nakamoto always wanted bigger blocks.

What the Satoshi Bitcoin Scaling Quotes Actually Say

The fight reopened after a developer interview drew criticism on X. Big-block advocates recirculated two Satoshi lines they treat as settled doctrine, starting with this one from BitcoinTalk.

"We can phase in a change later if we get closer to needing it."

The context complicates that reading. Satoshi wrote it while urging users to reject a patch that raised the block size limit.

A December 2009 post predicted Moore's Law would soon outgrow the chain. That rule of thumb holds that computing power roughly doubles every two years.

Consequently, advocates argue, the design always assumed rising capacity.

Back answered with one word. He wrote "no," then explained why the archive cuts both ways.

Why Back Wants First Principles Instead

Back traces those Satoshi Bitcoin quotes to a defensive exchange with critic James A. Donald, who argued in 2008 that the design would never scale. Satoshi's answer that November pointed away from bigger blocks entirely.