A documentary broadcast by HBO puts forward numerous “evidence” concerning a link between Satoshi Nakamoto and Peter Todd. The latter quickly reacted, claiming not to be the creator of Bitcoin.
The documentary caused a lot of talk, and for good reason. The HBO platform had announced that it would broadcast a film on the creation of Bitcoin. If until then, other documentaries and films had already been made on the queen of cryptocurrencies, HBO affirmed this time that it had unmasked its creator. A real bomb in the cryptocurrency industry because until now, no one had ever gotten their hands on the identity of the developer of the queen of cryptocurrencies.
Broadcast on HBO for the first time during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday in France, the documentary entitled Money Electric : The Bitcoin Mysterydirected by Cullen Hoback, puts forward one name, that of Canadian computer developer Peter Todd. But the latter quickly reacted, mocking the conclusions put forward by the director and affirming at the same time that he was not the famous Satoshi Nakamoto.
“We are all Satoshi”
Questioned in the documentary, Peter Todd repeatedly denied on camera being the creator of bitcoin. “If I were Satoshi, I would have destroyed my ability to prove it so that I would never have the temptation to do it,” he explains in an interview in the documentary.
“But you’re not Satoshi?” asks the director. “Oh no, I’m Satoshi, we’re all Satoshi,” he replied.
The creator of the documentary, however, provides evidence such as messages posted on an old “Bitcoiner” forum, to guess that Peter Todd was Satoshi Nakamoto. Crucially, when interviewed in the documentary, Peter Todd shrugs his shoulders and calls the suggestion “ridiculous,” then laughingly says, “I’m Satoshi Nakamoto.” On the social network
“With all the drama tonight, I have to say that Caolan (director of films about the war in Ukraine), is doing an infinitely more important job than Cullen Hoback. You should definitely watch this. And I hope that one day I “I’ll have the privilege of meeting Caolan. As for Cullen, he at least paid for lunch.”
A developer present in Bitcoin since 2012
Peter Todd is a developer present in the Bitcoin community since 2012. The 39-year-old Canadian is known for having been one of the main developers of the technology, but also a consultant and developer of other software related to cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
He is one of the few people who publicly spoke with Satoshi Nakamoto about the code and functionality of Bitcoin before the latter’s demise in 2011. Peter Todd also worked for several years in the crypto industry, including as chief scientist at Mastercoin, a digital currency and communications protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Other hypotheses tested in the documentary
In the film, the director looked back at the history of Bitcoin and interviewed many people, from cryptographer Adam Back to investor Roger Ver to bitcoin specialist Samson Mow. The bets were launched on the Polymarket website. On the page “Who will the HBO document identify as Satoshi?”, many Internet users had bet on several cryptographers, capable of being the real creator of Bitcoin.
On the evening of October 8, Nick Szabo, American computer scientist and cryptographer, was the bookmakers’ favorite with 15.6% of the votes. He was followed by David Kleiman with 12.8% of the votes, then Len Sassaman with 9% of the votes. This ranking was obviously subject to numerous movements. Especially since more than 65% of voters were thinking of one or more other personalities. Peter Todd was not part of the hypotheses put forward by the punters.
The crypto editorial: The identity of the creator of Bitcoin soon revealed? – 04/10
The producer of the HBO documentary, Cullen Hoback, had been giving clues about the presumed identity of Satoshi Nakamoto for several days. In an interview with CNN on Monday October 7, he confirmed that he himself had confronted the person in question. “We present strong arguments. […] And I think that his reaction in itself is more telling than the evidence that we provide,” he said.
Whether it is Peter Todd or someone else, the digital wallet linked to the inventor of bitcoin is today filled with 1.1 million bitcoins, or nearly 63 billion euros. With his assets, the holder of these bitcoins would directly place himself 23rd richest person in the world, ahead of the Ferrero family or even ahead of Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, according to the Forbes ranking of the richest personalities on the planet. If the tokens of the creator of Bitcoin have not moved for many years, any action on the part of this holder could strongly impact the price of the queen of cryptocurrencies.
