There is the random thought that Satoshi is a group in the NSA.
They get a ledger of all transactions in the economy, self selected by the very secretive.
It uses their strengths, cryptography.
It gives more data than fiat does.
It is a daunting piece of work, it boggles the mind to think that a single individual pulled it off.
Could be, but take a look at Nickolas Szabo here
http://szabo.best.vwh.net/maybe with the help of Hal Finney
http://www.finney.org/~hal/rpow/Both of them are capable and much more motivated than the NSA.