Is HBO Pointing to the Wrong Bitcoin Inventor?
The announcement of an HBO documentary about the mysterious Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, sparked a lot of buzz beforehand.
The announcement of an HBO documentary about the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, stirred up a lot of buzz beforehand. The network hyped it up with a promo: "The Internet's biggest secret will be revealed," the trailer proclaimed.
Whether the documentary lives up to that promise remains doubtful after the broadcast. The award-winning filmmaker Cullen Hoback says he identified Bitcoin developer Peter Todd as Satoshi Nakamoto. But Todd denies it.
Hoback bases his claim on a few chat messages that would point to Todd as Satoshi Nakamoto, but he offers no convincing evidence. Todd himself has, as shown in the documentary, more often joked that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. In the crypto world, phrases like "I am Satoshi" or "We are Satoshi" have by now become frequently cited quotes.
According to Todd, he bought his first Bitcoin around 2010, two years after the White Paper appeared.
The search for Satoshi Nakamoto will likely continue even after this HBO documentary. Since late 2010, nothing more has been heard from Nakamoto. In his final posts on the Bitcointalk forum, he voiced concerns about the growing media attention that arose after Wikileaks started using Bitcoin for funding.
Since then, there has been plenty of speculation about Satoshi Nakamoto's identity. Names like Adam Back, Nick Szabo, Hal Finney, and Len Sassaman are frequently mentioned. While there are many clues, there is no hard proof to date.
Satoshi Nakamoto's fortune is estimated at 1.1 million Bitcoin, which at current rates comes to about 68 billion dollars.
