The man named by Newsweek as the founder of bitcoin has appeared in a YouTube video to again dispute the claim and to thank supporters.
Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto rubbished the magazine's story in the video, which was uploaded on Tuesday, and said he wished to "hug" the thousands of people who donated money to clear his name during his "ordeal".
"I'm very thankful for you, all these people, in US, Europe and Asia and Africa and South America who supported me throughout. I want to hug you, this 2,000 of you, who donated. I'm very happy, each one gives me a tick in my heart."
He spoke in occasionally halting English and held up a copy of the magazine's 6 March issue, which declared him "The face behind bitcoin".
The three-minute video returned Nakamoto, 64, to the spotlight a month after the cover story created a media circus around his modest home in Temple City, a suburb in east Los Angeles.
The article, written by senior reporter Leah McGrath Goodman, identified him as the anonymous, enigmatic founder of the digital currency – a huge scoop if true. Bitcoin's explosion in popularity in 2013 supposedly made its founder – whoever they are – worth $400m (£238m).
Amid near-slapstick scenes, with journalists chasing Nakamoto through Los Angeles, Nakamoto, a Japanese-American retired engineer, denied any link to bitcoin and said he had never heard of it until February 2014 through Goodman's inquiries.
Newsweek has defended its story but critics have accused the magazine of blundering and putting an innocent man of humble means – Nakamoto said he had been unemployed and sick – through the wringer.
"I am not Satoshi Nakamoto," he said in the YouTube video. "My name is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto and of course if I were the creator I would never use my real name. So from that point of view, I'm sure you guys would know, that Satoshi Nakamoto is not me. But Leah thinks so and Newsweek said so, but it's not true."
Goodman did not immediately respond to an interview request on Tuesday.
A fund set up by Andreas Antonopoulos, an entrepreneur and coder, has raised $23,000 in bitcoin to help Nakamoto. Antonopoulos appeared alongside him in the video and appeared to have filmed it.
