How to Disappear Completely (in re Arthur Britto II)

[ICookinBrine]

The recent Forbes profile of David Schwartz reminded me of a point that frequently pops up in the commentary when an article surfaces on the early days of OpenCoin/Ripple and XRP--the mysterious Arthur Britto.  It gets reported that Jed McCaleb and David were working on Ripple, and then Arthur Britto came into the picture (apparently by introduction through Roger Ver, per 9/3/18 @joelkatz tweet).  The Forbes article says “McCaleb and Schwartz joined forces and soon brought on another programmer, Arthur Britto, to help Schwartz finish XRP's technical architecture. In 2012, while Schwartz and Britto wrote code, veteran tech executive Chris Larsen, who previously worked at Prosper Loans, joined Ripple as its first chief executive.”  Jed, David, Chris have publicly participated in the community throughout the past several years.  Arthur Britto has been responsive on message boards in the past, but has not had a public persona in social media or Ripple public relations as have the others.  The limited coverage of his involvement in several of these articles does not seem commensurate with the role his significant early apportionment of XRP would imply.  (No desire to mug off Ryan Fugger, it's just that his lack of original XRP distribution or ongoing role at Ripple makes him less pertinent to an XRP discussion in 2018.)

The 2015 Observer article had perhaps the most detail, but I and anyone else should be cautious in heavy reliance on it because it does not appear to have been very rigorously fact-checked.  Perhaps it is enough to say it begs the oft repeated question of “who is Arthur Britto,” by quoting Charlie Shrem (not the most reputable character, per the US Court system) as saying Arthur Britto was “the real guy behind Ripple” and the article, without attribution, states that Britto is a “legendary futurist” (I may simply be out of the loop on this particular circle).

So who is Arthur Britto II?  It is hilariously difficult to find out for someone who is so prominent in the development of such a prominent Internet network.  There are no photos purporting to be him in social media, traditional media coverage, or Ripple publicity.  Octogenarians with physical storefronts for their business have more online visibility than him.

There is plenty of very positive commentary from early members of this community who know or have met him.  He appears to come from a self-made, entrepreneurial background.  By all outward accounts, he is a thoughtful person, having been credited for the following statement (by himself, maybe?): “The quality of life is proportional to the ability to discern.”

The earliest coding attribution I could find was some early games for which he is credited along with Greg Hale (1984’s Rescue Raiders and 1991’s Armor Alley).  It appears that he operated an Internet service provider.  He was, for a time, affiliated with Bitstamp in some capacity.  He is now  affiliated with a promising crypto custody startup, Polysign, together with David.

Arthur Britto AMA Request: (1) What other projects have you been involved with between your Armor Alley days and Ripple? (2) What are your goals and responsibilities in your present roles at Ripple and Polysign? (3) As a “legendary futurist,” what does the landscape of this technology look like in coming decades and are there any analogues we can look to from modern or ancient history? (4) What is the reasoning for your chosen level of online privacy and to what do you attribute changes in your views on this point, if any, over the last two decades? (5) When moon?

[Guest]

Arthur Britto = Satoshi Nakamoto

Confirmed

[Kpuff]

1 hour ago, icebreath said:

Arthur Britto = Satoshi Nakamoto

Confirmed

You know what that actually would make sense if he was. Also I bet Monero is his favorite coin

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Kpuff said:

You know what that actually would make sense if he was. Also I bet Monero is his favorite coin

Also there's that:

Quote by Satoshi himself:

Quote

Ripple is interesting in that it's the only other system that does something with trust besides concentrate it into a central server.

https://pastebin.com/Na5FwkQ4

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/54-my-first-message-to-satoshi/

Here's the patent by Arthur Britto:

https://patents.justia.com/patent/7610383

Edited September 7, 2018 by Guest

[Kpuff]

6 minutes ago, icebreath said:

Also there's that:

Quote by Satoshi himself:

https://pastebin.com/Na5FwkQ4

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/54-my-first-message-to-satoshi/

I'm really starting to believe this. I know David has worked with the bitcoin team before. It almost fits the puzzle perfectly but I won't take it much further than this. Thanks for the insight 

[Pablo]

11 hours ago, ICookinBrine said:

The recent Forbes profile of David Schwartz reminded me of a point that frequently pops up in the commentary when an article surfaces on the early days of OpenCoin/Ripple and XRP

Thanks @ICookinBrine I love these types of posts. Have we got another lawyer on the forum?  

The early history is murky with many versions of events and not without controversy (to say the least!). We may never know the full story. Arthur posted infrequently on the old Ripple forum but when he did, it made you sit up and pay attention. 

As for anyone suggesting Britto = Satoshi, that’s a very easy NOPE! 

[2ndtimearound]

Breaking news: Satoshi Nakamoto is BearableGuy123

[Guest]

Britto exists - look on the uk companies house. That’s all I’ll say. 

I think he’s more of a financial backer than an architect like DS/Jed.

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Guest

[pucksterpete]

Bitstamp.  Long time ago 

[dvdman]

10 hours ago, icebreath said:

Also there's that:

Quote by Satoshi himself:

https://pastebin.com/Na5FwkQ4

https://bitcoinfoundation.org/forum/index.php?/topic/54-my-first-message-to-satoshi/

Here's the patent by Arthur Britto:

https://patents.justia.com/patent/7610383

I miss Rachel's Twitter posts! Where did she go?

[ImTheRippler]

3 hours ago, Sim_Tron said:

I think he’s more of a financial backer than an architect like DS/Jed.

You got that backwards, DS and AB are the architects, Jed is a rich drama queen.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, Kpuff said:

I'm really starting to believe this. I know David has worked with the bitcoin team before. It almost fits the puzzle perfectly but I won't take it much further than this. Thanks for the insight 

David Schwartz weighs into the debate:

 

[LittleLordFauntleroy]

Hat tip for the Radiohead reference in your title.

[scoobysi]

5 hours ago, icebreath said:

David Schwartz weighs into the debate:

 

So David, Arthur & 8 others are Satoshi?

[xrp-pat]

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/officers/h5bTfd3vD6-3TNekKmFVVdVqmkQ/appointments

9 hours ago, Sim_Tron said:

Britto exists - look on the uk companies house. That’s all I’ll say. 

I think he’s more of a financial backer than an architect like DS/Jed.

 

Is there the equivalent database in the USA?