HBO Unveils Satoshi Nakamoto Canadian Developer Accused of Being the Creator of Bitcoin Peter Todd I Am Not Satoshi Nakamoto
The highly anticipated documentary about Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, aired on Tuesday on American television network HBO. Contrary to popular speculation, the documentary did not reveal Len Sassaman, a cryptographer, as the true identity of Nakamoto. Instead, it pointed to Canadian software developer Peter Todd as the likely creator of Bitcoin. HBO reasoned that Todd is Nakamoto, who disappeared mysteriously in 2011 after using the pseudonym. However, the evidence presented in the documentary was not enough to convince those who have been studying the mystery of Nakamoto’s identity for a long time.
Table of Contents
Toggle
Director confidently points out: Peter Todd is the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto
Todd’s early interest in digital currency and Nakamoto’s linguistic characteristics
The “physicist turned software engineer” code
The “flaw” on the Bitcoin forum in 2010
Actual implementation of the fee replacement mechanism
How did Todd react?
HBO documentary claims Peter Todd is Nakamoto, he denies it
Bets on the documentary outcome were invalidated
Director Cullen Hoback made a major accusation in his documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,” stating that Canadian software developer Peter Todd is the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Although Todd vehemently denied this claim, Hoback remained confident in his inference, saying he was “very confident” about it. This accusation sparked intense discussions about Nakamoto’s identity once again.
Peter Todd has been interested in creating digital currencies since he was young. In 2001, as a young libertarian, he emailed digital currency pioneer Adam Back to inquire about how the structure of Hashcash could be applied to a “decentralized ‘central’ database.” At that time, Todd was still a teenager, but his passion and curiosity for digital currency coincided with the ideas of Bitcoin’s creator, Nakamoto.
Furthermore, Hoback also pointed out that Nakamoto’s language usage in the Bitcoin whitepaper and forums showed characteristics of British and Canadian English spelling, such as using words like “favour” and “neighbour,” which align with Canadian linguistic habits. At the same time, Nakamoto also used American spelling, such as “realize,” adding to the similarities between Todd and Nakamoto.
Hoback further emphasized the characteristics of the Bitcoin code. Todd was studying physics as a graduate student when Bitcoin was born, and he was a self-taught programmer. After analyzing the Bitcoin code with experts, Hoback received the assessment that “this piece of code lacks sophistication, like something a physicist would write after becoming a software engineer.” This aligns with Todd’s background and strengthens Hoback’s speculation.
Hoback found what he considered “decisive evidence” in his investigation: a post published on the Bitcoin forum in 2010, just two days after Nakamoto’s last appearance on the forum. In the post, Nakamoto made a technical suggestion about the Bitcoin code. A few hours later, Todd also responded on the same forum, making slight modifications to Nakamoto’s proposal.
In his response, Todd wrote, “Of course, specifically, if the second transaction has a fee, the inputs and outputs can’t fully ‘match’.” This response led Hoback to make a bold assumption: Todd actually used the wrong account and accidentally responded to the post he had previously made as Nakamoto.
Years later, Todd put this proposal from the discussion into practice and implemented a mechanism called “Replace-by-Fee” (RBF), which became part of Bitcoin transactions. Hoback believed that this fact further supported his inference that Todd’s response at that time was actually his own proposal.
In the documentary, Hoback confronted Peter Todd and Adam Back directly on camera about the forum post and the implications behind it. When Hoback told Todd that he believed Todd is Nakamoto, Todd immediately denied it and called the claim “ridiculous.” However, Hoback noticed that Todd appeared nervous and awkwardly laughed to himself in front of the camera while answering. Hoback described it as a “very telling reaction,” and Adam Back’s silence during the conversation was almost as revealing as the evidence collected earlier.
However, Hoback admitted that there are still some unanswered questions, including why Todd did not delete the forum response that could expose his identity.
The documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,” directed by Cullen Hoback, attempts to uncover the true identity of Nakamoto. But the main character in the documentary, Peter Todd, strongly denies any connection to Nakamoto and calls it “ridiculous.”
(
HBO releases Bitcoin documentary “Money Electric,” revealing Nakamoto’s identity
)
Although Todd insists on denying any association with Nakamoto, Hoback’s documentary has reignited speculation in the cryptocurrency world about Nakamoto’s true identity. With more evidence being uncovered, the debate about the creator of Bitcoin is far from over.
Before the documentary was released, bettors in the crypto market placed $20 million in bets on the identity of Nakamoto on the Polymarket platform. Most bettors believed that the documentary would point to multiple creators or someone not among the top 15 candidates. Late cryptographer Len Sassaman briefly became the frontrunner, but after the documentary aired, everything became uncertain once again.
Peter Todd
Satoshi Nakamoto
Nakamoto
Bitcoin
Further reading
Fake Satoshi Nakamoto admits on Australian website! Assets frozen, could face “perjury charge” by UK prosecutors
Is Satoshi Nakamoto back on Twitter? Gets debunked: Account has long been taken over by Fake Satoshi
