Satoshi Nakamoto’s famous 2008 white paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, outlined the fundamentals of the world’s top cryptocurrency, but by design, it failed to identify the foundational creator – or set of creators – associated with the pioneering decentralized technology.
Now, HBO’s new documentary – Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery – purports to solve the crypto community’s greatest riddle, complete with slick production values and cinematic flair.
While the digital asset community has long sought to ferret out the true identity of the enigmatic, larger-than-life character of Nakamoto, for now the pseudonymous creator (or creators) still has not been pinned down – with some even speculating that he might not be alive at all.
Others have even gone so far as to float an unsubstantiated theory that Tesla CEO Elon Musk might be Nakamoto, but this theory has been widely debunked.
While HBO’s new documentary seems to have landed on an answer, HBO's answer was underwhelming, according to the crypto community. The accused man, a Canadian Bitcoin Core developer named Peter Todd, has denied any relationship to Nakamoto altogether.
In fact, Todd even dismissed the documentary’s viewpoint that he might be the elusive figure with a succinct tweet: "I'm not Satoshi.”
Nevertheless, the documentary attempts to prove this tenuous connection by linking Todd to Nakamoto's interest in the early proof-of-work system known as Hashcash, as well as to apparently similar writing styles, comparable C++ code quality, and even his statements on web forums.
While Todd and the crypto community find the documentary’s claims dubious, it will undoubtedly ignite a new wave of amateur sleuths on the internet to search for their own answers.