A new documentary claims to have solved the greatest mystery in cryptocurrency: the true identity of the inventor of Bitcoin.
A new documentary claims to have solved the greatest mystery in cryptocurrency: the true identity of the inventor of Bitcoin.
The question has captivated the internet since the digital currency was launched by an unknown person or persons calling themselves Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.
Now the makers of an HBO film say they finally have the answer: Canadian crypto expert Peter Todd.
But Mr Todd has dismissed it as “ludicrous” and criticised the documentary.
In Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, Peter Todd is confronted by film-maker Cullen Hoback.
Mr Hoback shows him his evidence and asks him if he was behind the now trillion dollar invention – a suggestion Mr Todd laughs off.
“I am not Satoshi Nakamoto”, he told the BBC.
Enormous wealth
The intrigue around Satoshi is not just due to the mystery of their identity, but because of the enormous wealth they have accumulated.
If they still had control of their bitcoin wallet, it would be worth around $69bn today – meaning Satoshi would be around the 20th richest person in the world.
Peter Todd is a prominent Bitcoin developer and has been credited with many innovations in the world’s first and largest cryptocurrency.
But he has never previously been named as a prime Satoshi candidate in the years that people have spent trying to unmask the Bitcoin inventor.
There is huge interest in this latest attempt to solve that riddle. Ahead of the documentary being released more than $44m was placed in bets on crypto betting website Polymarket on who the programme would name as Satoshi.
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Cullen Hoback, who has previously attempted to unmask anonymous online figures like Q from Q Anon, says he came to his conclusion after years of research and interviews.
One of his pieces of evidence that Mr Todd is Satoshi is a forum post he found from Peter Todd that looked to be a continuation of one from Satoshi.
Another is that he once said online that he destroyed a huge number of the digital coins deliberately.
A leading theory is that Satoshi deliberately destroyed access to his massive stash of bitcoins that were the originals created to start bitcoin.
The 1.1m coins are now worth a fortune but have never been spent or transferred.
Satoshi’s stash of unmoved coins represent 5% of all bitcoins as the inventor decided that there would only ever be 21 million coins created.
Mr Todd says that Mr Hoback’s evidence is based only on coincidence and misinterprets his online activity.
“I am not Satoshi. When I first read the Bitcoin whitepaper, my reaction was “Dammit! I should have thought of that,” he said.
Mr Todd also says he has been forced to travel away from his home through fear of attacks from potential criminals.
Previous theories
A number of individuals from the computing world have been previously tipped as the cryptocurrency’s creator.
In 2014, a high-profile article in Newsweek identified Dorian Nakamoto, a Japanese-American man living in California as Satoshi. But he denied it and the claim has largely been debunked.
In 2015, Wired and Gizmodo published an investigation that pointed to Australian computer scientist Craig Wright.
Soon after, Wright declared in interviews with outlets, including the BBC, that he was indeed Satoshi and showed apparent proof.
But his claims were disregarded by the community and after years of claiming to be the inventor, a UK High Court judge ruled that there was “overwhelming” evidence that he is not Satoshi.
Tech billionaire and crypto enthusiast Elon Musk also denied he was behind the cryptocurrency after a former employee at one of his firms, SpaceX, suggested it.
For some of the most prominent voices in Bitcoin, keeping Satoshi’s identity secret is a part of the appeal and power of the decentralised currency.
Adam Back, one of the core developers (and another potential Satoshi candidate) posted on X ahead of the documentary: “No one knows who satoshi is. and that’s a good thing.
