(imo) Wasn't the NSA but there certainly was government FUNDED brainpower behind it. It was all a "theoretical" experiment ... they never intended it to take off the way it did (like Netflicks never expected Movies over the internet to take off like it did).

Alas the world was ready for something like Bitcoin ... and it caught everybody off guard.

Why do you think the US Government didn't ban it outright early on? They certainly had the legal authority to do that.

Because they had a hand in creating it!!