Satoshi

Satoshi Nakamoto

Bitcoin

Adam Back

HBO’s documentary aimed at outing Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, identified Canadian Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd as the cryptocurrency’s inventor.
Cullen Hobak — producer of HBO’s Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery documentary — confronted Todd and Blockstream founder Adam Back with the evidence he had stitched together to conclude that Todd was Nakamoto.
The documentary’s finale ends with Todd saying: “Well yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto,” in response to a confrontational question from Hoback.
Still, this “admission” doesn’t necessarily prove that Todd is Bitcoin’s inventor. He is well-known for invoking the phrase “I am Satoshi” to support the real creator’s right to privacy. 
Todd publicly denied being Bitcoin’s creator ahead of the documentary’s debut and <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/peterktodd/status/1843769829129629721" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">questioned</a> Hoback’s conclusion after clips from the documentary leaked online ahead of its debut.
Todd again denied being Satoshi on social media after the release of the documentary. In an Oct. 8 <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/peterktodd/status/1843789750983110697" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://x.com/peterktodd/status/1843789750983110697">response</a> to a comment on X asking him to come out and deny HBO’s claim, Todd wrote, “I am not Satoshi.”
<figure>
 <img alt="Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Core" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-10/01926f34-356f-77c7-a417-efc0a54b8fae" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Source: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/peterktodd/status/1843789750983110697" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Peter Todd</a>
 </figcaption>
</figure>
Todd has joked about being Satoshi in the past. In a 2019 What Bitcoin Did podcast episode, Todd told host Peter McCormack: “I am Satoshi, as is everyone else.” 
During the podcast, Told told McCormack he made his first Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC</a>) purchase when the cryptocurrency was worth around 20 cents. This puts the time of purchase in October 2010, roughly two years after Bitcoin’s whitepaper was <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-whitepaper-returns-to-bitcoin-org-after-craig-wrights-copyright-claim-debunked" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-whitepaper-returns-to-bitcoin-org-after-craig-wrights-copyright-claim-debunked">published on Oct. 31, 2008</a>. 
<h2 id="why-todd-was-named-satoshi">Why Todd was named Satoshi </h2>
Holback’s reasoning for claiming Todd is Nakamoto rests on a chat log message Todd wrote claiming to be “the world’s leading expert on how to sacrifice your Bitcoins,” adding that he had “done one such sacrifice and I did it by hand.” 
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/imdb-hbo-documentary-edits-everyone-casted-satoshi-nakamoto" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/imdb-hbo-documentary-edits-everyone-casted-satoshi-nakamoto">IMDB reveals HBO’s Bitcoin documentary secret: Everyone in the cast is Satoshi</a>
Hoback classified this message as an admission that Todd had permanently disabled his ability to access the 1.1 million Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC</a>) — worth $69.4 billion — <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto-the-creator-of-bitcoin" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/who-is-satoshi-nakamoto-the-creator-of-bitcoin">thought to be held by Nakamoto</a>. 
In the lead-up to Hoback's bombshell reveal on Todd, the Canadian Bitcoin developer provided his own reasoning for why Bitcoin’s creator might choose to remain anonymous. 
<blockquote>
 “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?”
</blockquote>
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/anti-aging-multi-millionaire-bryan-johnson-almost-devoted-life-crypto/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Anti-aging tycoon Bryan Johnson almost devoted his life to crypto</a>

Peter Todd named Satoshi Nakamoto in HBO documentary

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Cointelegraph

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