We already know what the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of bitcoin, is. Or at least that’s what a new and recently released HBO documentary entitled ‘Electronic Money: The Mystery of Bitcoin‘ assures. And once again, that those responsible for the documentary think they know is not enough.
Satoshi Nakamoto as Peter Todd. The creator and director of the documentary, Cullen Hobak, concludes that the creator of bitcoin is a Canadian developer named Peter Todd (@peterktodd in X). Specialized in cryptography and certainly known in this segment, until now he had not been considered one of the great candidates to actually be Satoshi Nakamoto.
But Todd denies it. When confronted with that theory, Todd shrugged and called the idea “ridiculous.” Todd himself repeatedly denied in a recent CoinDesk interview that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. In his opinion, the director of the documentary was “grasping at straws” with his claim that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. “Of course I’m not Satoshi,” Todd said in that interview.
No conclusive evidence. The documentary offers no clear evidence of its discovery, and all the evidence it shows is circumstantial. Among them are Todd’s interest in cryptography, his relationship with Adam Back – who even exchanged emails with Nakamoto – or his recognized technical ability. One of the “tangible” pieces of information was the fact that Todd replied to a post by Nakamoto in 2010: according to the creator of the documentary, that message was actually a continuation of Nakamoto’s message, but it was accidentally sent from an account with Todd’s name instead of Nakamoto’s.
Candidates everywhere. During the days leading up to the documentary’s release, the Polymarket website published a curious list. In it, various names were considered that would end up being the person revealed on HBO, and people could bet on those names. Todd wasn’t even on the list, and the big candidates were Paul Le Roux, Gavin Wood, Nick Szabo, and Craig Wright.
Satoshi, the billionaire. Unveiling Nakamoto’s identity could have a noticeable impact on financial markets. It is estimated that the creator of bitcoin has close to one million bitcoin in his possession, which would make him a billionaire in first place, and in second place someone with too much power within the ecosystem. With such a large amount of cryptocurrencies, it could cause irregular movements in their valuation, as “whales” are already suspected to do, the mysterious people or entities that hide behind a bitcoin wallet and have a huge number of them.
The mystery remains so. HBO’s evidence seems insufficient to prove that Todd is indeed Nakamoto. Nic Carter, a well-known cryptocurrency investor, claimed in Politico that Todd was not Nakamoto and expressed a wish that many crypto believers probably share: “I personally hope that we never find out who Satoshi is.”
Image | Peter Todd
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