Now, given this blog post, what I'm wondering is: maybe Satoshi offered his private keys to this guy to avoid problems in the future, and so that they stop chasing him?
EDIT: s/sold/offered/ (because I believe Satoshi doesn't have the need to sell anything these days)
That's the best theory I've heard so far. That would explain why he chose a weak verification message (the Sartre quote, instead of a message that proves the signature to be recent). The real Satoshi would have chosen a different proof, but Wright doesn't know any better.
How could you know what the real Satoshi would do?
mappum is - or has access to - the real Satoshi of course!
So far, he hasn't published the verification message in full, and no signature either. The ones in the blog are dummies.
He was forced to. He doesn't want to be public, and he wishes he didn't have to be.
He may be or not be Bitcoin's inventor (I strongly suspect he isn't) but in both cases he really wanted to be known, at least starting in mid-2015.
What evidence is there for this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZNtbAFnr-0
If he is Satoshi, and what he's saying about being forced to reveal his identity now is true, it would make sense to provide the minimum that the threateners would accept, knowing that the community wouldn't buy it. That video is really odd. (FWIW I don't believe this claim is or isn't true, I'm waiting for more info.)