They never denied it:
http://bitcoinbarbie.com/cryptonote-open-source-technology-concept/As weve mentioned before, CryptoNote team was not interested in building a currency. That is when Bytecoin developers took the lead. They are the team of top notch p2p and cryptocurrency developers, which have been contributing to the sphere for quite some time. They finalized our cryptographic and currency prototypes and coded a beautiful solution to represent CryptoNote.
I'm glad you reminded me of that interview because it was one of the most damning bits of evidence against the legitimacy of this so-called cryptonote and unfortunately the OP seems to have missed it:
This test coin was presented to a large number of influential people in educational, scientific, and gaming industries, who eventually became the first miners of Bytecoin. I believe this circle of a few affected the way the currency developed during the next year and why the information was slow to spread. It is not in the nature or business of these participants to post on the Web, so all the mining teams grew in number through word-of-mouth only.
Really?!
1. A "large number of influential people" knew about this and none of them has ever mentioned it?
2. A "large number of influential people" knew about this and not a single one can be identified now and confirm that to be the case?
3. "It is not in the nature or business of these participants to post on the Web."' In what universe do people in the educational and scientific industries not post on the web? They invented the damn web you idiots.
4. "Mining teams" We know from the analysis of reputable and credible exports (including on this thread) that the mining algorithm was deliberately deoptimized to simulate a fake two-year blockchain. If (and I doubt it, as in I'm 100% sure it didn't happen) the mining actually happened over two years, only a handful of computers (<10) were involved. There were no "mining teams."
After that interview I was certain that cryptonote was a scam. Before that I only suspected. As I posted a few months ago, the more these people keep talking the more they will out their own scam. And they did.
It's amazing they were able to create the technology and manage to fail so hard at their scam attempt.
I'd suspect one or more people behind CN fall within the autistic spectrum. The clear disconnect from how others would receive their attempts yet still being able to produce novel tech shows a clear imbalance in their mental faculties.