In a captivating HBO documentary, Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but the disclosure was not as straightforward as it appeared.
HBO’s quest to reveal the real identity of Bitcoin’s enigmatic creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, pointed to Canadian Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd as the mastermind behind the digital currency.
During “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,” producer Cullen Hoback presented a dossier of evidence to Todd and Adam Back from Blockstream, positing that his findings pointed to Todd as the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto.
Todd ended the documentary by stating, “Well yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto,” in response to a direct question from Hoback.
This “admission” doesn’t conclusively prove Todd’s role as Bitcoin’s inventor, as he frequently employs the phrase “I am Satoshi” to uphold the privacy of the real creator.
Before the documentary premiered, Todd denied being the creator of Bitcoin and questioned Hoback’s conclusion when footage leaked online.
After the documentary aired, Todd again denied being Satoshi on social media.
In response to a comment on X on Oct. 8 asking him to refute HBO’s claim, Todd simply replied, “I am not Satoshi.”
Todd has previously joked about being Satoshi.
On the What Bitcoin Did podcast in 2019, Todd told Peter McCormack, “I am Satoshi, and everyone else is too.”
During a conversation with McCormack on the podcast, Todd recalled buying his first Bitcoin when its price was roughly 20 cents.
This meant he purchased in October 2010, approximately two years after Bitcoin’s whitepaper was unveiled on October 31, 2008.
See also: UK Judge Rules Craig Wright Is Not Satoshi Nakamoto or the Author of the Bitcoin Whitepaper
Holback believes Todd is Nakamoto due to a chat log message where Todd referred to himself as “the world’s leading expert on how to sacrifice your Bitcoins,” mentioning that he had “done one such sacrifice and I did it by hand.”
Holback regarded this message as an admission that Todd had effectively disabled his access to the 1.1 million Bitcoins, worth $69.4 billion, that are believed to belong to Nakamoto.
Before Hoback made his startling claim about Todd, the Canadian Bitcoin developer presented his thoughts on why the creator of Bitcoin might wish to remain anonymous.
“What if the real reason for using the name Satoshi […] was so that people could take Bitcoin seriously? So they could believe it was created by a real cryptographer and not some kid still in school?”
