The latest documentary released by the HBO television network, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, was the much-awaited one as it was speculated to reveal the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. There were many speculations about who would be the real face behind Satoshi Nakamoto. The documentary hints at the possibility that the Canadian developer Peter Todd could be the real face of Satoshi Nakamoto. Other prominent people who were speculated to be Satoshi Nakamoto were Len Sassaman, Nick Szabo, Adam Back, and David Kleiman.
In this documentary, the director Cullen Hoback interviews people who have been involved with Bitcoin since its early days, including Adam Back, investor Roger Ver, Bitcoin marketer Samson Mow, and even Peter Todd himself.
However, Peter Todd denied these findings. He has latched out at the documentary and its makers by saying that the finding is ludicrous. In the documentary, Peter Todd dismisses the speculations by mockingly claiming that he is Satoshi Nakamoto.
Who Is Peter Todd?
Peter Todd is a Canadian academician. He is also a cryptographer and one of the early developers of the Bitcoin technology. As an early-stage contributor to the Bitcoin database, Todd is perceived to have interacted with whoever was behind the Satoshi Nakamoto figure.
Peter Todd has worked as a Bitcoin Core Developer at Coinkite since 2014. With his expertise in Bitcoin’s innate technology, Todd has also worked as the Chief Scientist at Mastercoin and Dark Wallet.
Why Does The HBO Documentary Consider Todd As Nakamato?
Let us examine the arguments raised in the documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” in favor of Peter Todd being the real face of Satoshi Nakamoto.
Peter Todd was an unexpected name that was never discussed before in the run for the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Until his name leaked a few hours before the official release of the documentary, Peter Todd was not on the list of possible contenders.
The documentary used a mistaken reply by Peter Todd in 2010 when he accidentally responded to a post that Satoshi Nakamoto had started on the Bitcointalk forum using his account. Some argued was Todd was impersonating Nakamoto through this post. However, this argument was soon found to be hollow or lacking the necessary evidence.
Another argument is that Peter Todd later implemented the replace-by-fee” concept, which was discussed in the same thread with Satoshi Nakamoto on the Bitcointalk forum. Moreover, the film unearths another similarity between Todd and Nakamoto. Both Satoshi and Todd used British/Canadian spellings in their online communications, which is also thought as evidence of their connection. Moreover, the documentary also found out that Todd’s posting schedule on the Bitcoin talk forum matched Satoshi’s posting schedule on the same platform.
Reception Of The Documentary
Many major players in the crypto industry have ridiculed the documentary’s finding that Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto. They have stated that the findings based on loose evidence are ridiculous. On the X post by Peter Todd claiming that he is not Satoshi, many people and organizations have made their points in defense of Todd.
Cobra, the administrator of Bitcointalk, has posted that such irresponsible journalism is putting real people in danger. Other major names in the cryptocurrency industry, such as Adam Cochran and Jesse Powell, have contemptuously criticized the documentary’s findings. The documentary has not failed to find a definitive answer to the long-winded question of Satoshi Nakamoto’s real identity.
The Bottom Line: Why Is Satoshi Nakamoto’s Real Identity Important?
The name Satoshi Nakamoto was actively heard behind the creation of Bitcoin until 2010, but its presence has disappeared since. Satoshi was the genius behind solving the problem of double spending in cryptocurrencies. He introduced a peer-to-peer distributed timestamp server to prevent the double spending problem of cryptocurrencies. Satoshi is also a millionaire in terms of his Bitcoin earnings.
Nakamoto’s anonymity upholds Bitcoin’s decentralized nature and the trustlessness of the wallet. Rather than centering on a person as its authority, Bitcoin could foster a community following rather than revolving around a founder or sole authority.
The debates about the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto will remain alive till the mystery is solved. As long as people’s curiosity lasts, such debates and identity revelation attempts regarding Satoshi’s real identity will continue.
