Satoshi Nakamoto’s neighbors stunned by Bitcoin claims

Neighbors of the man who a magazine claimed is the creator of Bitcoin said they were surprised by the attention focused on him.

Reporters converged on the Temple City home of Satoshi Nakamoto after a Newsweek story claimed he was the creator of the controversial currency.

Neighbors said they were surprised at the attention surrounding Nakamoto.

“I don’t see him too often,” said Stanley Huang, 28, who lives across the street. The one time they interacted, he said, was when Huang parked his car in front of Nakamoto’s house and Nakamoto came out to ask him to move it.

Neighbor Evelyn Koskie told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:

“I just found out about it on the Internet. I was just kind of surprised ... shocked. Then we had these all of these media people up and down the street with cameras and tripods.”

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said they have been sending a car to his home every few hours to make sure there are no problems.

LIVE UPDATES: The chase for an alleged Bitcoin founder

No incidents have been reported to authorities. The Newsweek story suggested Nakamoto called police when the reporters came to his home.

The Times’ Joe Bel Bruno and Andrea Chang reported that a group of reporters pursued Nakamoto as he and an Associated Press reporter drove to the news service’s offices in downtown Los Angeles. In an interview with AP, Nakamoto denied being the creator of Bitcoin.

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