Key Takeaways
- Peter Todd was accused of being Satoshi Nakamoto in HBO's documentary.
- Todd denied being Bitcoin's creator both before and after the documentary aired.
- Todd has joked in the past about being Satoshi, supporting privacy for the true creator.
In HBO’s Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery documentary, Peter Todd, a Canadian Bitcoin core developer, is confronted by filmmaker Cullen Hoback, who accuses Todd of being Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoback’s conclusion is based on various pieces of evidence, including chat logs where Todd claimed to be an expert in sacrificing Bitcoins.
The documentary ends with Todd sarcastically admitting:
Well yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto…
But, he has since denied being the inventor of Bitcoin. Ahead of the documentary’s release, Todd publicly questioned Hoback’s conclusion and reiterated on social media that he is not Satoshi Nakamoto.
Todd has joked about the identity of Bitcoin’s creator before. In a 2019 podcast, Todd humorously claimed that “everyone else” is Satoshi, highlighting the phrase often used by Bitcoin advocates to defend the anonymity of the true inventor. Todd noted that he made his first Bitcoin purchase in October 2010, two years after Bitcoin’s whitepaper was published.
Hoback’s reasoning includes Todd’s comment in a chat log about sacrificing his Bitcoins, which Hoback interprets as proof that Todd disabled access to the 1.1 million Bitcoin thought to belong to Nakamoto.
