Peter Todd Refutes Claims of Being Satoshi Nakamoto Following HBO’s Documentary
The 100 Minutes HBO Documentary Generated a Lot of Buzz as it Provides Circumstantial Evidence of Peter Todd Being Satoshi Nakamoto
HBO’s new documentary, “Money Electric, The Bitcoin Mystery”, has reignited speculation surrounding the true identity of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Cullen Hobak, the producer of the highly anticipated documentary, pointed fingers at Peter Todd, a well-known Bitcoin developer, suggesting that he could be the elusive Nakamoto.
The Allegations from HBO’s Documentary
In the 100-minute-long feature, the documentary’s producer, Cullen Hoback, presented mainly circumstantial evidence tying Todd to Nakamoto, including Todd’s online behavior, and early involvement in the crypto community.
One such alleged piece of evidence was that Todd once accidentally posted from Nakamoto’s account on the BitcoinTalk forum in 2010.
Additionally, the documentary cited Todd’s advocacy for Replace-by-Fee (RBF), a disputed feature within the Bitcoin ecosystem, implying that only someone like Nakamoto would possess such intimate knowledge of Bitcoin’s code.
One further piece of alleged evidence was Todd’s cryptic comment about being “the world’s leading expert on how to sacrifice your Bitcoins,” which Hoback interpreted as an admission of destroying access to Nakamoto’s 1.1 million BTC.
Todd and the Crypto Denies Allegations
The crypto community asserts that the documentary’s producers have misrepresented Todd’s humor and technical expertise.
Key moments presented as admissions of his identity as Satoshi Nakamoto have been debunked by those knowledgeable about the cryptocurrency space, labeling it as “sloppy journalism.”
Todd has consistently rejected any claims that he was Nakamoto, both in interviews and online. Days before the documentary release, he took to his X page to dismiss the allegations again, bluntly stating, “I am not Satoshi.”
Todd was about 23 and still finishing a fine arts degree when Nakamoto first published the Bitcoin white paper, outlining a vision for a decentralized peer-to-peer payment system.
He later went on to hold high-level positions in the crypto industry, including being chief scientist at Mastercoin, a digital currency and communications protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain, since 2014.
He was among the few people who publicly communicated with Nakamoto about the code and features behind Bitcoin before Nakamoto’s disappearance in 2011.
