Nobody knows who is behind Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonym under which the founder of Bitcoin hides. Or maybe no one knew until now: Cullen Hoback, the director of the documentary “Money Electric: the mystery of Bitcoin which premiered on HBO, claims to have solved the mystery. Canadian Peter Todd, a programmer who contributed to Bitcoin in its early days, is believed to be Nakamoto.
“I’m not Satoshi,” Todd said after the documentary’s premiere in a statement to CNN, where he accused Hoback of being “irresponsible” in naming him as the alleged creator of Bitcoin. “It turns certain coincidences into something much more important,” explains the Canadian. Since the creation of Bitcoin in January 2009, Nakamoto’s identity has been the subject of intense debate and meticulous investigation that has never resulted in conclusive evidence.
The evidence in the documentary, which Todd claims was exaggerated in order to identify him as the alleged creator of Bitcoin, is based on a three-year investigation during which Hoback and his team delved into the depths of old internet forums. , collecting messages and comments. They also interviewed early Bitcoin contributors.
The most compelling clue the documentary is based on is a 2010 dialogue on a Bitcoin forum in which Todd responded to a message from Nakamoto in a way that seemed to continue the Bitcoin creator’s line of thinking. This response, which follows the thread of Nakamoto’s comment, suggests that this was actually a response that was supposed to be made from Nakamoto’s account, but Todd made a mistake and made it from of his personal profile.
Other suspicious elements are also highlighted in the documentary, such as that in an old resume Todd claimed to have mastered the programming language used to write the original Bitcoin codebase. A knowledge that the Canadian would later deny; or a fake account he may have created to hide his trail while establishing a new Bitcoin feature known as fee replacement. Hoback also points out the similarity in style between Todd’s and Nakamoto’s writings.
With all this list, the director confronts Todd himself on camera and names him as the man behind the pseudonym. He calls the idea “ridiculous” but doesn’t give another name. He scoffs at the idea, but he doesn’t categorically deny it either. Although the documentary offers a coherent and plausible theory, it is yet another inconclusive attempt to reveal Nakamoto’s identity. Hoback fails to provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he tracked down the creator of Bitcoin.
The identity of Bitcoin’s creator is not the first Internet mystery Hoback has sought. In his previous work, the documentary series “Q: In the storm“revealed the man behind QAnon. Even though Todd has denied being Nakamoto, Hoback remains convinced that it is him.
The documentary’s director is not the first to attempt to reveal Nakamoto’s identity. In 2014, an article from News week He named physicist Dorian Nakamoto as the creator of Bitcoin, although he was later shown to have no connection to the cryptocurrency. A year later, the journalist New York TimesNathaniel Popper pointed the finger at Nick Szabo, an American of Hungarian origin who created a digital currency very similar to Bitcoin. Szabo also denied being behind the pseudonym.
Whether the mystery is solved or not, HBO’s new documentary once again puts the spotlight on who Bitcoin created and why it matters. Although Nakamoto stopped contributing to the development of Bitcoin in 2011, he still controls (or so it is assumed) a wallet containing over a million bitcoins, which would represent 5% of the total supply . At current valuations, this portfolio would be worth around $60 billion, which would automatically make its owner one of the richest people in the world. Identifying Nakamoto also raises the answer to other less positive questions, such as his possible complicity in crimes involving Bitcoin.
Since Bitcoin began operating 15 years ago, it has become one of the great financial phenomena of the century and a store of value for those seeking an alternative to traditional currency. Today, Bitcoin has also become an online currency for illegal products and services. The popularity of the cryptocurrency, which has enjoyed support from figures such as X and Tesla owner Elon Musk, has led even central banks to view its existence as a potential rival.
