Key Insights
Filmmaker Cullen Hoback claimed Canadian developer Peter Todd to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto which the latter swiftly refused, after replying sarcastically.
In the past, there had been several other contenders including Craig Wright, Len Sassaman, Nick Szabo, and Hal Finney, among several others.
There had been also the angle of several people using Nakamoto as a front with suspects being the NSA, CIA, and the drug cartels.
After much anticipation, the HBO documentary on Bitcoin creator finally came out. The series named "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" directed by Cullen Hoback, identified Canadian developer Peter Todd as Bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Hoback's claims depend on a series of messages by Todd where the latter claims to be a world-leading expert on how to sacrifice Bitcoins.
Peter cleared all the fog in an email to CoinDesk and claimed he was not Satoshi Nakamoto. In a conversation with the CNN, he said “For the record, I'm not Satoshi,” and that the film was "irresponsible" and could pose threat to his life.
Peter has clarified several times in the past that he was not Satoshi.
The real Satoshi Nakamoto is expected to own around 1 million Bitcoins, taking his net worth to over $60 billion.
Over the years, Satoshi Nakamoto has left a long trail of hints, clues, and evidence that could potentially be the keys to identifying him in the future.
One such evidence was a series of emails that were from Satoshi Nakamoto.
Another commonly encountered evidence is his style of writing that can be seen on Bitcoin's whitepaper. Based on this writing, Nick Szabo was suspected to be Nakamoto as his style of writing was very close to that present on the whitepaper. Also, Nick's ideas about a financial system free from government came very close to Bitcoin.
These evidences were also used by the U.K. High Court to prove that Craig Wright was not Satoshi Nakamoto.
There has been much speculation about Nakamoto's real identity, with the crypto betting market Polymarket suggesting that Len Sassaman could be the real Nakamoto. In the past, several individuals have been accused of being Satoshi Nakamoto, including Bitcoin Cash founder Craig Wright.
Other contenders for the identity have included Nick Szabo, Len Sassaman, Hal Finney, Dorian Nakamoto, and many others who have claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Nick Szabo was an early cryptographer who pioneered the concept of Smart Contracts and was allegedly friends with Hal Finney at the time.
Many also suspect that the National Security Agency (NSA) or the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) may have created Bitcoin. Given the complexity and sophistication of the Bitcoin network, it's been suggested that a single individual might not have been able to develop it alone.
It is obvious that anyone who would have created Bitcoin must have some incentive to hide their identity, whether it be monetary, legal or psychological.
This brings forward another angle where it was presumed that drug cartels and mafia were the ones who created Bitcoin for their global trade. Otherwise, for someone to be so popular as Satoshi Nakamoto, it does not make any sense to hide their identity except if they were related to the world of crime.
In 2019 US journalist Evan Ratliff claimed that drug lord Paul Le Roux could be the real Satoshi Nakamoto.
The real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto could perhaps be never revealed. Whatever the case, Bitcoin will stand to be the central pillar of an economy free from undue centralization and will continue to inspire future technology in making the world more and more decentralized.
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