According to Peter Todd, an HBO documentary turned his life into a nightmare. Electric money aired on the network earlier this month and named Todd as Satoshi, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin. Todd, who was the main character in the documentary, denied being Satoshi and has since told several reporters that the accusation put his life in danger.
In the documentary, journalist Cullen Hoback explores the world of Bitcoin, telling its story and interviewing many of the people involved in its creation and flourishing. The central mystery of cryptocurrency is its creator. Who was Satoshi? Many journalists have tried, unsuccessfully, over the years to give a face to this name.
Why is this important? Knowing who Satoshi is could help explain the motivations for creating the currency. Hoback insisted that knowing the person’s identity is in the public interest. And then there’s the money. Satoshi is the owner of an untouched Bitcoin wallet worth billions of dollars.
“Obviously, falsely accusing someone of holding tens of billions of dollars puts them at risk of theft and kidnapping,” Todd told Bloomberg after the documentary aired. “He is putting my life in danger to promote his film.”
In subsequent interviews with publications such as Wired and CNN, Todd repeatedly denied being Satoshi. Now, Todd told Wired, he’s gone into hiding. After the documentary aired, his inbox was flooded with emails. Many of them were asking for money. Todd said he expects it to be this way for the rest of his life. “Not only is the question stupid, it is dangerous. Satoshi obviously didn’t want to be found, for good reasons, and no one should help people who are trying to find Satoshi,” Todd told Wired.
Hoback’s evidence that Todd is Satoshi is quite thin and has been widely dismissed by the cryptocurrency community. Todd was around and participating in crypto forums when Bitcon was founded. In December 2010, Satoshi published an article about cryptocurrency on the BitcoinTalk forum. After making a mistake, Todd corrected it. To Hoback, it seemed like Todd had finished Satoshi’s sentence.
It doesn’t help that Todd, despite repeated denials after the documentary aired, looked directly into the camera and said “I’m 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 to be a joke. His most recent post on X regarding the controversy is a retweet of a joke accusing Hoback of being Satoshi.
The director of the documentary is obviously distancing himself from the fact that he himself is Satoshi.
– From the future (@futurebaht) October 19, 2024
Todd told Wired that it was impossible for him to have posted as Satoshi at the time because he was on vacation. He gave the publication photos of himself from 2010 that allegedly contained metadata proving he couldn’t be the poster. “If I had actually responded by accident, the obvious thing to do would have been to abandon that account and create a new one,” he said.
Hoback said he supported the film and believed Todd was Satoshi.