We already know the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Or at least that’s what a new, recently released HBO documentary titled ‘Electronic money: The mystery of Bitcoin’ claims. And once again, it’s not enough for those responsible for the documentary to believe they know this.

Satoshi Nakamoto as Peter Todd. Cullen Hobak, the documentary’s creator and director, concludes that the creator of bitcoin is a Canadian developer named Peter Todd (@peterktodd on X). As someone who specializes in cryptography and is certainly well-known in this segment, until now Satoshi Nakamoto was not considered one of the top candidates.

But Todd denies this.. When Todd came across this theory, he shrugged and called the idea “ridiculous.” Todd repeatedly denied that he is Satoshi Nakamoto in a recent CoinDesk interview. According to him, the director of the documentary was “ambivalent” about the claim that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. “Of course I’m not Satoshi,” Todd said in that interview.

There is no conclusive evidence. The documentary does not provide clear evidence of his discovery, and any evidence it does show is circumstantial. These include Todd’s interest in cryptography, his relationship with Adam Back, who exchanged emails with Nakamoto, or his reputed technical ability. One of the “hard” data was Todd’s reply to a Nakamoto post in 2010: According to the creator of the documentary, this message was actually a continuation of Nakamoto’s message, but was mistakenly sent from an account called Todd’s instead of Nakamoto’s. .

Candidates are everywhere. Just a few days before the premiere of the documentary, the Polymarket website published an intriguing list. Various names were being considered that would be the person announced on HBO, and people could bet on these names. Todd wasn’t even on the list and the big candidates were Paul Le Roux, Gavin Wood, Nick Szabo and Craig Wright.

Billionaire Satoshi. Revealing Nakamoto’s identity could have a significant impact on financial markets. It is estimated that the creator of Bitcoin has around one million Bitcoins in his possession, which would make him, first, a billionaire, and second, someone with a lot of power within the ecosystem. Such large amounts of cryptocurrencies can cause erratic movements in their valuations, as is suspected by “whales”, i.e. mysterious individuals or organizations that hide behind bitcoin wallets and own large numbers of cryptocurrencies.

The mystery remains. HBO’s evidence appears insufficient to prove that Todd is indeed Nakamoto. Nic Carter, a well-known cryptocurrency investor, noted on Politico that Todd is not Nakamoto, expressing a wish many cryptocurrency believers likely share: “I personally hope we never find out who Satoshi is.”

Image | Peter Todd

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