HBO Documentary Says Peter Todd Is Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Satoshi Nakamoto

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Michael Davis

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Michael Davis

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October 8, 2024

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HBO’s just launched Bitcoin documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, was just released, and it names former Bitcoin developer Peter Todd as Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator.

The documentary proposes evidence that suggests Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto, including that a 2010 post on BitcoinTalk by Satoshi Nakamoto was inadvertently made from Todd’s account, and that Todd had left a cryptic messages suggesting he had destroyed access to the 1.1 million BTC tokens held in Satoshi Nakamoto-linked wallets.

But Todd has already vehemently denied these accusations. Responding to leaks of parts of the HBO documentary prior to its release at 9pm Eastern Time, Todd told the press “I’m not Satoshi”.

“It’s ironic that a director who is also known for a documentary on QAnon has resorted to QAnon style coincidence-based conspiracy thinking here too,” he added.

Peter Todd is referring to filmmaker Cullen Hoback, who directed Money Electric, and previously identified the person behind the QAnon conspiracy theory in an earlier HBO series.

HBO’s Satoshi Nakamoto Claim Draws Scepticism

The crypto community has been instantly skeptical of HBO’s Satoshi Nakamoto claim.

X user PixOnChain debunks the “2010 BitcoinTalk post” claim, explaining that it probably wasn’t a follow-up comment from Satoshi accidentally made from Todd’s account.

And he claims that the “cryptic message” about destroying the 1.1 million tokens was a joke taken out of context.

The BitMEX Research team, meanwhile, called HBO’s claim that Peter Todd is Satoshi “ridiculous”. Reffering to the 2010 BitcoinTalk comment made by Todd, BitMEX argues that “there is zero reason to believe this was Satoshi”.

Peter Todd Meme Coins Go Wild

Whilst HBO’s claims have drawn major scepticism and don’t seem to have closed the book on the Satoshi mystery, that hasn’t stopped meme coin degens from feverishly speculating.

One of the best performing new meme coins was $YOURMOM, which has surged a stunning 9,500% since launching early in the day, per DEXTools.

$YOURMOM was created in reaction to rising speculation that Todd would be named as Satoshi earlier in the day, and is a reference to a joke he once made saying the name of his cat was “your mom”.

That caught the attention of Peter Todd, who gave the meme coin a shoutout on his Twitter, even if he was mocking the logic behind one callers investment thesis in the token.

The question of who Satoshi Nakamoto is seemingly remains unsettled. Maybe that’s for the best – the mystery of Bitcoin’s anonymous and absent creator has been key to fostering the idea of Bitcoin as a decentralized, digital alternative to gold.

But at least some meme coin degens were able to make a quick buck in the meantime.