Crypto Community Slams HBO Documentary Claiming Peter Todd Is Satoshi

HBO is garnering pushback after a highly-anticipated documentary named Peter Todd, a long-standing Bitcoin developer, as Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

On Oct. 8, HBO broadcasted Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, a documentary from Cullen Hoback claiming to have solved the 15-year puzzle of Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity.

The filmmaker concluded that Peter Todd, a long-time Bitcoin contributor who was finishing an arts degree at age 23 when the Bitcoin whitepaper was published in 2008, is the most likely candidate to be Bitcoin’s enigmatic founder.

Hoback claimed Todd likely adopted the Satoshi moniker in a bid to bolster Bitcon’s credibility, allowing onlookers to speculate the blockchain was invented by a mysterious and credentialed cryptographer, rather than "some kid still in school.”

Chat logs and BitcoinTalk posts

Hoback's argument rests upon interpreting an old chat log in which Todd claimed to be the “world’s leading expert on how to sacrifice your bitcoins,” with the filmmaker inferring that the message comprised an “admission” that Todd intentionally made it impossible for himself to access to Satoshi’s stash of 1.1 million BTC.

Hoback further pointed to a 2010 post on the BitcoinTalk forum that Todd published in response to Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoback believes Todd accidentally made the post using his personal account, but had intended to publish the comment from Satoshi’s profile instead.

However, Todd resoundingly rejected Hoback’s hypothesis, posting on X that he is not Satoshi.

"It's ludicrous," Todd told Hoback in the documentary. "This is going to be very funny when you put this into the documentary and a bunch of bitcoiners watch it."

Speaking to CoinDesk, Todd also described Hoback’s conclusions as being rooted in “coincidence-based conspiracy thinking.”

Community backlash

The documentary attracted vehement criticism from prominent figures within the crypto community.

“Piece of shit journalist is putting people in real physical danger,” Cobra, the administrator of BitcoinTalk replied to Todd on Twitter. “I’m sorry you… have to deal with this nonsense. Stay safe.”

BitMEX Research said inferring that Todd is Satoshi based on the 2010 BitcoinTalk post is “ridiculous,” characterizing the post as little more than a snarky and pedantic reply to Satoshi from Todd. “There is zero reason to believe this was Satoshi,” BitMEX Research added.

Adam Cochran, a general partner at Cinneamhain Ventures, said the film “irresponsibly” named Todd as Satoshi without providing “solid proof.”

“Wild speculation… The entire thing is based on the filmmaker not understanding someone being snarky on the internet and assuming two snarky responses mean that Todd is Satoshi,” Cochran said. “Now this man is going to have assholes trying to extort him.”

“Wherever Satoshi may be, I like to think they're having a laugh at this latest round of foolishness,” said Jameson Lopp, the co-founder of Casa, a Bitcoin self-custody solution provider.

Polymarket punters

A prediction market on Polymarket allowing users to bet on who the documentary would identify as Satoshi attracted more than $44.3 million worth of volume in the lead-up to the film’s release.

Len Sassaman, a cypherpunk who took his own life in 2021, emerged as an early front-runner, with users betting Sassaman up to 67% probability on Oct. 5. Nick Szabo, the renowned cryptographer, and Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream, later traded places in the lead with 32.4% and 23% implied probability respectively on Oct. 8, before “Other/Multiple” took control of the market and ultimately won.