The idea of someone emerging from the shadows with 5% of the world's wealth would be one of the most insane things to happen in human history for sure. Seems like it's something that should never fully be discounted.

The thing is, the further up you go, the more of a target you become. If Satoshi revealed him/herself, he/she would instantly become the world's biggest target for theft, assassination, manipulation, etc etc.. Seems short sighted if you ask me.

Personally, my theory is that he's dead, or there's some plan in place to distribute the bitcoin evenly among a lot of wallets to help even the playing field for late adopters so hyperbitcoinization isn't as much of a shock to the world. Kind of optimistic, I know. No one really knows, but one thing seems pretty likely: this will be one of the world's biggest mysteries for a long time.