Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright is the Bitcoin Creator

Australian tech entrepreneur Craig Wright has publicly identified himself as Bitcoin creator,ending years of speculation about a person who until now has gone by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, according to a report in BBC.

Wright said in a blog post and interviews with three media organizations that he developed the original bitcoin software under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Wright provided technical evidence, including the original encryption keys, that have been confirmed by prominent members of the bitcoin community, the BBC reported.

Renowned cryptographer Hal Finney was one of the engineers who helped turn Mr Wright's ideas into the Bitcoin protocol, he said."I was the main part of it, but other people helped me," the BBC quoted Wright as saying.

“Some people will believe, some people won’t and to tell you the truth I don’t really care,” he said in a video clip posted to the BBC’s Twitter account. “I don’t want money, I don’t want fame, I don’t want adoration. I just want to be left alone.”

Wright was named as the creator of bitcoin by both Wired and Gizmodo in December, which he said led to unwanted attention on his work and family.

A white paper on the virtual currency was released under the name of Nakamoto in 2008 detailing the concept of peer-to-peer electronic cash before software was rolled out in early 2009. More than one other person has previously been identified as the original creator.

Bitcoin is often referred to as a new kind of currency. They are like virtual tokens and like all currencies its value is determined by how much people are willing to exchange it for.

To process Bitcoin transactions, a procedure called "mining" must take place, which involves a computer solving a difficult mathematical problem with a 64-digit solution. For each problem solved, one block of Bitcoins is processed. In addition the miner is rewarded with new Bitcoins.

There are currently about 15 million Bitcoins in existence. To receive a Bitcoin, a user must have a Bitcoin address - a string of 27-34 letters and numbers - which acts as a kind of virtual post-box to and from which the Bitcoins are sent.

They operate like privately run bank accounts - with the proviso that if the data is lost, so are the Bitcoins owned.

Bitcoins are now accepted as payment for a vast variety of goods and services - everything from international money transfers to ransoms for data encrypted by computer viruses. There are currently about 15.5 million bitcoins in circulation. Each one is worth about $449 (£306).