Leaked clips from HBO's upcoming documentary about Satoshi Nakamoto suggest that former Bitcoin developer Peter Todd might be identified as the creator of cryptocurrency. However, Todd firmly denies this claim.
In an email to CoinDesk, Todd called out filmmaker Cullen Hoback, who is known for exposing the identity of the person behind the QAnon conspiracy. Todd said Hoback is “grasping at straws” by accusing him of being Satoshi.
Todd confirmed that the interview took place and noted that the specific clip isn’t altered. Still, he hasn’t seen the documentary yet. “Of course, I’m not Satoshi,” he stated. He added, “It’s ironic that a director known for a documentary on QAnon has resorted to QAnon-style coincidence-based conspiracy thinking here too.”
On Tuesday afternoon in New York, just hours before the premiere of “Money Electric: the Bitcoin Mystery,” odds on Polymarket’s betting platform showed that 78.5% favored “Other/Multiple” regarding who the film would identify as Satoshi. Previously, figures like cypherpunk Len Sassaman and programmer Nick Szabo led the list of potential candidates.
At the time the Polymarket bet was created, Todd wasn’t listed as an option. Anyone wanting to bet on him being the film's “reveal” had to select “Other/Multiple.”
In the clips circulating online, Todd calls the theory that he is Satoshi “ludicrous.”
It’s important to note that only snippets of the film are available online. Hoback might reach a different conclusion about Satoshi’s identity than what’s suggested in the scene with Todd.
In that scene, Hoback confronts Todd, laying out his theory about how and why Todd supposedly hid his involvement in creating Bitcoin. Todd shakes his head and laughs at Hoback’s accusations.
“I will admit you’re pretty creative. You come up with some crazy theories. It’s ludicrous,” Todd says in the clip. “But I’ll say yeah, of course, I’m Satoshi. And I’m Craig Wright.”
This comment is clearly a joke, not a confession. Todd has made similar jokes before, telling What Bitcoin Did podcast host Peter McCormack in 2019, “I am Satoshi, as is everyone else.”
As the video continues, Todd, still laughing, warns Hoback that he’s drawn an incorrect conclusion.
“This is going to be very funny when you put this into the documentary and a bunch of bitcoiners watch it,” Todd says. “I suspect a lot of them will be very happy if you go this route because it’s yet another example of journalists really missing the point in a way that’s very funny.”
Hoback asks what the point is.
“The point is to make Bitcoin the global currency,” Todd responds.
A few seconds from this scene appear in the official trailer for the film.
Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who stands next to Todd in the clip, did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment.
Even though Todd was an early Bitcoin developer and played a significant role in Bitcoin's early years, he hasn’t been a major suspect in the long search for Satoshi. Names like Hal Finney, Nick Szabo, and Back often come up, but they all deny being Satoshi.
During the McCormack podcast, Todd mentioned he bought his first bitcoins when the price was 20 cents. This means he made that purchase around October 2010, two years after the Bitcoin white paper was released.
Back tweeted on Monday evening that, “for people betting, they are betting on what the documentary concluded. Which is probably not going to be true, because no one knows who Satoshi is. So they should keep that in mind.”
Previous media attempts to unveil Satoshi’s true identity have failed, with outlets mistakenly naming figures like programmer Dorian Nakamoto and known pretender Craig Wright as Satoshi.