According to Peter Todd, an HBO documentary has turned his life into a nightmare. Money Electric aired on the network earlier this month and named Todd as Satoshi, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. Todd, who was the main character of the documentary, denied he was Satoshi and has told several reporters since that the accusation has endangered his life.
In the documentary, journalist Cullen Hoback explores the world of Bitcoin, tells its history, and interviews many of the people involved in its creation and flourishing. The central mystery of the cryptocurrency is its creator. Who was Satoshi? Many journalists have tried, and failed, over the years to put a face to the name.
Why does it matter? Knowing who Satoshi is could help explain the motivations for the creation of the currency. Hoback has insisted that knowing the person’s identity is in the public interest. And then there’s the cash. Satoshi is the owner of an untouched Bitcoin wallet worth billions of dollars.
“Obviously, falsely accusing someone of having tens of billions of dollars puts them at risk from robbery and kidnappings,” Todd told Bloomberg after the documentary aired. “He’s putting my life at risk to promote his movie.”
In subsequent interviews with publications such as Wired and CNN, Todd has repeatedly denied that he’s Satoshi. Now, Todd tells Wired, he’s gone into hiding. After the documentary aired, his inbox was flooded with emails. A lot of them were people asking for money. Todd said he expects this is just the way it’s going to be for the rest of his life. “Not only is the question dumb, it’s dangerous. Satoshi obviously didn’t want to be found, for good reasons, and no one should help people trying to find Satoshi,” Todd told Wired.
Hoback’s evidence for Todd being Satoshi is pretty thin and has been largely rejected by the cryptocurrency community. Todd was around and participating in crypto forums at the time of Bitcon’s creation. In December 2010, Satoshi was posting about the cryptocurrency on the forum BitcoinTalk. After making a mistake, Todd corrected him. For Hoback, it appeared as if Todd had finished Satoshi’s sentence.
It doesn’t help that Todd, despite repeated denials after the documentary aired, stared directly at the camera and said “I am Satoshi,” several times in the film. He always said it with a smile on his face and Todd is a known troll. It was meant as a joke. His most recent post on X about the controversy is a retweet of a joke accusing Hoback of being Satoshi.
The documentary director is obviously deflecting away from the fact that he himself is Satoshi.
— From the Future (@futurebaht) October 19, 2024
Todd told Wired it was impossible for him to have posted as Satoshi at the time because he was on vacation. He gave the publication pictures of himself from 2010 that allegedly contained metadata proving he couldn’t be the poster. “If I had actually replied to myself by accident, the obvious thing to do would have been to just abandon that account and make a new one,” he said.
Hoback said he stands by the film and believes Todd is Satoshi.