The 64 year old Nakamoto told Associated Press that he had never even heard of bitcoin until being contacted by Newsweek, insisting "I got nothing to do with it".

Newsweek claimed to have unmasked the "father of bitcoin" in a lengthy cover story used to relaunch its print edition. The story presented a wealth of circumstantial evidence identifying the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto.

The magazine says that Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto "tacitly acknowledged" his role but added "I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it".

Within hours of publication, hoards of reporters descended on the man's home in Temple City, near Los Angeles. Eventually Nakamoto emerged and picked out an AP reporter at random, declaring: "I'm not involved in bitcoin. Wait a minute, I want my free lunch first. I'm going with this guy."

The pair then drove to a sushi restaurant as reporters followed in a farcical car chase. However, they were quickly forced back into their car and the chase resumed.

During his interview with AP, Nakamoto repeatedly called the crypto-currency "bitcom" and claimed to have never heard of Gavin Andresen, the lead developer on the Bitcoin Project who is extensively quoted in the Newsweek story.

He also claims that Newsweek reporter misunderstood the crucial "I am no longer involved in that" quote and that he meant that has is no longer involved in engineering.

Further doubts were cast on the Newsweek report when a post from the "real" Satoshi Nakamoto appeared on the P2P Foundation's Ning page insisting ""I am not Dorian Nakamoto."

The P2P Foundation told TechCrunch that the post came from the same e-mail address used for a 2009 post which was the first known description of bitcoin.

Newsweek says that it stands by its story.