My understanding is that whoever built bitcoin was pretty darn good at what they were doing.
I question whether the best of the best in cryptography would choose to work for a government over earn enough money to spend time building something awesome, like bitcoin. This is coming off watching the video Gary Tan posted recently [1].
To me, the only question left is about leaking. What's a greater incentive against leaking: coercion by a bureaucratic, nontechnical employer (ie; a government), or the bonds of secrecy between close friends in a common cause?
Call me an idealist, but I think the latter has a pretty good shot. The number of leaks coming from Apple vs the number of leaks from Google (higher from Apple, IIRC) seems to support this viewpoint.
I question whether the best of the best in cryptography would choose to work for a government over earn enough money to spend time building something awesome, like bitcoin.
I question whether the best of the best in cryptography couldn't just work for the government TO earn enough money to spend time building something awesome. I mean, at least in the field of cryptography, it has always seemed like the government would be high on the list of places to work anyway. Crypto is a big deal to government, so they are going to be on the cutting edge, and plenty of other top crypto guys work there.
I may be wrong, but I don't think that being an amazing cryptographer is necessarily that lucrative of a career.
Most of your options are going to be government employment (intelligence services/military) or working in academia.
If bitcoin was a top secret government development then it's quite likely they would assign different people to different parts of the project with a minimal number of people overseeing the entire thing.
To me, the only question left is about leaking. What's a greater incentive against leaking: coercion by a bureaucratic, nontechnical employer (ie; a government), or the bonds of secrecy between close friends in a common cause? Call me an idealist, but I think the latter has a pretty good shot. The number of leaks coming from Apple vs the number of leaks from Google (higher from Apple, IIRC) seems to support this viewpoint.
[1] http://sub.garrytan.com/hackers-can-be-business-guys-and-oth..., around 12:30 iirc.
EDIT: sentence structure.