HBO has hailed cryptographer Peter Todd as the creator of BitCoin, but he has denied the claims that he is the infamous Satoshi Nakamoto.
Cullen Hoback, an award-winning filmmaker, made the HBO documentary and claimed that he found evidence by connecting old and new information that Todd is Nakamoto. In the documentary, he confronted Todd and Adam Back, the founder of Blockstream, with the evidence.
The new HBO documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery dove into Hoback’s theory, and in the finale, Peter Todd said, “Well, yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto.” However, that statement is not what it looks like on the surface.
Todd has been known to say “I am Satoshi” to support the BitCoin creator’s privacy. He later said, “Of course I’m not Satoshi” in an email to CoinDesk before the documentary was released on HBO, and has since denied it several times. The documentary also clarifies that Todd’s finale statement does not make him Nakamoto.
The claim of Peter Todd as BitCoin’s creator
It would not be the most outlandish theory to suggest that Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto. Todd has been a prominent member of the Bitcoin community for a long time. He was known to have communicated with Nakamoto and has been a core developer of the cryptocurrency.
Castle Island Ventures Founding Partner Nic Carter, who has known Todd since 2017, said, “He is one of the most important bitcoiners, from a technical perspective. Generally speaking, people consider his views on Bitcoin as very important.”
There was pushback on Hoback’s theory, saying that Todd was too young to be Nakamoto. However, Hoback replied to an X post, “Peter was 23 at the time … Most cryptographers have their major breakthroughs when they’re younger. His dad is an economist.”
Hoback uses an old internet forum post in the documentary to prove his theory. In the forum, Nakamoto made a post detailing how Bitcoin transactions function and Todd replied to the post in continuation of the post. Hoback claimed that Todd accidentally used his account to reply to the post.
Todd rebuked the evidence in a post on X, saying, “This is clearly ridiculous! It is just an example of @peterktodd replying to Satoshi with a snarky, pedantic, and accurate comment … This is the kind of comment Peter could make today. There is zero reason to believe this was Satoshi.”
Todd denied Hoback’s claim further in a reply to an X user. If Peter Todd is indeed Nakamoto, the revelation will end a decadelong mystery about the Bitcoin creator’s identity.
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