HBO Doc Claims to Expose True Identity of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

Posted on: October 9, 2024, 08:35h. 

Last updated on: October 9, 2024, 10:05h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

A new HBO documentary claims to shed light on the true identity of the person responsible for creating Bitcoin, the decentralized cryptocurrency that changed global finance and became a popular digital coin that gamblers use online.  

“Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” premiered on HBO on Tuesday night. The 100-minute film seeks to identify Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the original cryptocurrency. The decentralized peer-to-peer token has ballooned in value from $8K five years ago to more than $60K as of this week.

Producer and director Cullen Hoback spent years compiling evidence as to the origins of the Bitcoin founder. He and his production team settled on Canadian software developer Peter Todd, a 39-year-old graduate of Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto who would have been just 23 years old when bitcoin.org was registered on Aug. 18, 2008.

It seems like you had these deep insights into Bitcoin at the time [of its launch]?” Hoback asks Todd in the film’s final moment. “Well, yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto,” Todd replies.

That isn’t exactly an admission or smoking gun, however, as Todd has regularly used the “I am Satoshi” expression as many others have to express their support of the Bitcoin creator’s wish to remain anonymous and maintain the decentralized blockchain free of central oversight from a government or financial institution.

Hoback’s conclusion that Todd is actually Nakamoto was a blow to crypto-based prediction betting markets that had the late Len Sassaman as the betting front-runner for the HBO doc’s outcome. 

Todd Denies Allegation 

Hoback, whose credits include “Q: Into the Storm,” “Monster Camp,” and “Terms and Conditions May Apply,” spent years analyzing various theories on who is behind the Satoshi Nakamoto name.

Todd denied the documentary’s claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto.

Cullen is grasping for straws here. He is playing up a few coincidences into something much more. Ironic really: that’s a hallmark of conspiracy thinking,” Todd told CNN.

Hoback cited early Bitcoin forum postings from Todd that the film producer likened to similar language and grammar to Nakamoto’s posts before he or she disappeared. Todd called the suggestion “ludicrous.”

Hoback says it’s in the public’s interest to learn who holds perhaps more Bitcoins than any other person in the world, a currency that today is invested in 401(k)s and has the potential to greatly impact financial markets around the world.

Bitcoin Popular With Online Gambling 

While Bitcoin’s price continues to grow in value, the decentralized currency is rarely used in brick-and-mortar retailers.

Bitcoin has also become the go-to currency for offshore gaming websites that facilitate internet casino gambling. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin provides both players and operators with anonymity and a better ability for the platform to skirt gambling laws in markets they operate unlicensed.