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HBO’s documentary ‘Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery’ claims Canadian Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto, but the crypto community remains unconvinced.
Cullen Hobak, the producer of the documentary, presents several pieces of alleged evidence in the 100-minute feature, concluding that Todd, an early figure in cryptocurrency, is Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator.
Peter Todd’s Contributions to Bitcoin
Peter Todd has been a significant contributor to the cryptocurrency space for several years. His interest in cryptography and blockchain technologies began in his teenage years. Todd’s earliest documented engagement with Bitcoin dates back to the late 2000s, around the age of 23, shortly after the Bitcoin white paper’s publication in 2008.
In a 2019 podcast episode of What Bitcoin Did, Todd shared that he was about 15 when he started communicating with early Bitcoin contributors like Hal Finney and Hashcash inventor Adam Back. These interactions significantly influenced his later contributions to Bitcoin and cryptography.
During a 2018 interview, Todd revealed he worked as an analog electronics designer and at a geophysics startup before pivoting to Bitcoin. He officially started working as a Bitcoin Core Developer at Coinkite in July 2014 and later held major roles, including serving as chief scientist at projects like Mastercoin and Dark Wallet.
Why is Todd Speculated to be Satoshi?
The key reason behind naming Todd as Satoshi comes from circumstantial evidence presented by Hobak. One piece of evidence is Todd’s cryptic online posts, notably one where he referred to himself as “the world’s leading expert on how to sacrifice your Bitcoins.” This was interpreted as a veiled admission that he may have destroyed access to the estimated 1.1 million BTC attributed to Nakamoto.
The documentary also claims Todd once posted from Satoshi’s account on the BitcoinTalk forum in 2010, allegedly by accident. Additionally, Todd is credited with advocating for Replace-by-Fee (RBF), a mechanism allowing a past transaction to be replaced by a new transaction with a higher fee. The documentary implies that such technical knowledge could only come from someone deeply familiar with Bitcoin’s original code, like Nakamoto.
Community Debunks Claims
Despite these theories, Todd has consistently denied being Nakamoto, even before the documentary aired. On October 8, he responded to a comment on X, stating, “I am not Satoshi.”
I am not Satoshi.
The crypto community quickly debunked HBO’s claims. Web3 researcher Pix highlighted several inaccuracies in the documentary. First, Pix noted that in 2008, Todd was finishing a fine arts degree and was not involved in cryptography, making it unlikely he needed a pseudonym like Satoshi Nakamoto.
Pix also refuted the 2010 BitcoinTalk post claim, arguing that a follow-up post 13 hours later was more likely a simple comment rather than evidence of a forgotten account switch. Additionally, Pix explained that Todd introduced RBF in 2014, years after Satoshi had left the scene, dismissing HBO’s suggestion that this feature was pre-planned by Nakamoto.
Pix further clarified that Todd’s “sacrificing bitcoins” comment was a joke about blockchain integrity, not an admission of destroying access to Satoshi’s 1.1 million BTC. This key piece of evidence was taken out of context, discrediting HBO’s claims.
Community Reactions
CryptoQuant researcher Ki Young Ju labeled the documentary “disgusting,” baffled by the conclusion reached when all Bitcoin experts disagreed. BitMEX Research also joined the skeptics, calling the evidence “clearly ridiculous” and stating there was “zero reason” to believe Todd is Satoshi.
Prominent figures like Adam Back, linked to Bitcoin’s early development, did not support the theory. Back, featured in the documentary, refrained from giving credence to the speculation, stating, “no one knows who Satoshi is.”
Other market observers dismissed the conclusion as sloppy journalism.
I like Peter Todd. I wish he was Satoshi. But this is just sloppy journalism.
A Surprise for Polymarket Bettors
Polymarket, a popular prediction market platform, had listed odds on who HBO’s documentary would identify as Satoshi Nakamoto. However, Peter Todd was not initially included as a betting option. Bettors focused on figures like Nick Szabo and Len Sassaman, frequently speculated as Bitcoin’s creators, along with Hal Finney and Elon Musk.
This omission further underscores how unexpected and widely dismissed the documentary’s claim about Todd truly was.
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