Controversial HBO Documentary Concludes Peter Todd Invented Bitcoin

Last night, HBO aired a documentary astir Bitcoin that claimed to uncover the individuality of the cryptocurrency’s anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. In Money Electric, writer Cullen Hoback chased the individuality of the mysterious creator and came to a arguable conclusion. According to Hoback, Satoshi is bundle developer Peter Todd.

Todd has repeatedly said helium isn’t Satoshi and the cryptocurrency assemblage has roundly rejected the theory.

Todd is simply a spot of a trickster and a troll. Others successful the movie described him arsenic a “contrarian.” He was successful his aboriginal 20s erstwhile Bitcoin appeared and helium did post connected BitcoinTalk, a forum wherever Satoshi posted earlier vanishing from the internet. Todd is simply a quality successful Hoback’s documentary, contiguous for ample portions of the movie arsenic a benignant of jester figure. More than once, Todd looks straight astatine the camera and says “I americium Satoshi” with a shit-eating grin connected his face.

“For the record, I’m not Satoshi,” Todd told CNN aft the documentary aired. “Cullen is grasping for straws here. He is playing up a fewer coincidences into thing overmuch more. Ironic really: that’s a hallmark of conspiracy thinking.”

Hoback’s grounds for Todd being Satoshi is absorbing but thin. At the halfway of the mentation is simply a Satoshi station connected BitcoinTalk successful which helium elaborates connected immoderate of the codification down the cryptocurrency. Todd replies to the thread, correcting Satoshi connected a method issue. For Hoback, it seems that Todd is finishing a thought that Satoshi began.

“Someone who had conscionable created an relationship and had ne'er posted astir Bitcoin before, was finishing Satoshi’s sentences?” Hoback says successful the documentary. The movie truncates the extremity of Satoshi’s station successful the editing, making it look that Todd’s thoughts travel much freely from Sataoshi’s than they really do.

©HBO screengrab.

©Bitcointalk screengrab.

Hoback besides pointed retired that Satoshi posted much successful the summer, indicating they whitethorn beryllium connected an world schedule. Todd was successful schoolhouse astatine the time. Both Todd and Satoshi usage the British spelling for words similar “colour,” there’s grounds Todd was trying to invent thing akin erstwhile helium was conscionable 15 years aged and that helium scrubbed an aged resume from the net wherever helium talked astir his proficiency successful C++. Bitcoin was written successful C++.

When confronted with this grounds astatine the extremity of the film, Todd laughs it off. “It’s ludicrous, but it’s the benignant of mentation that idiosyncratic who spends their clip arsenic a documentary writer would travel up with. So yeah, yeah. I’ll accidental ‘of people I’m Satoshi,’” helium says. “The constituent is to marque Bitcoin the planetary currency and radical similar you being distracted by nonsense tin perchance bash bully connected that.”

The cryptocurrency assemblage has firmly rejected the theory. In the film, Bitcoin ambassador Samson Mow says “Peter was ruled retired a agelong clip ago.” Hoback says suggesting Todd is Satoshi would get you laughed disconnected of each large Bitcoin forum successful the world. The greeting aft the documentary aired, that’s so what’s happening.

Articles are spreading across the cryptocurrency world calling the documentary a poorly researched hatchet job. Todd has gone connected grounds with CNN, saying he’s not Satoshi and complaining that helium wasn’t allowed to surface the movie earlier its release. “He’s had implicit a twelvemonth to hole for this moment,” Hoback told CNN. “Peter’s got next-level crippled theory. His absorption doesn’t astonishment maine astatine all.”