In light of the upcoming HBO documentary this week, speculation is swirling about who Bitcoin's creator is.
Bettors on Polymarket seem to believe evidence favors Len Sassaman.
Sassaman's writing style matches Nakamoto's according to linguistic analysis.
Nakamoto also went silent around the time Sassaman passed away.
Speculators will have to wait and see who HBO believes Bitcoin’s creator is.
The crypto community now eagerly awaits the 8 October premiere of the new HBO documentary.
This short film titled “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” has once again ignited speculation about the true identity of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The identity of this mysterious figure has remained a mystery for more than a decade now.
Now, bettors on PolyMarket have increasingly voted in favor of Len Sassaman.
These bettors believe that this prominent cryptographer who passed away in 2011 is the possible inventor of Bitcoin:
And for good reason too.
The "coincidences" linking both — Sassaman and Nakamoto — have been described by many as "overwhelming".
So who is Len Sassaman and why is he possibly the inventor of the greatest monetary system ever created?
Len Sassaman was a major figure in the cypherpunk movement.
For context, the cypherpunk movement was a group of technologists and activists in the late 1980s and 1990s.
These individuals advocated for the importance of strong encryption and privacy in the digital age.
Sassaman’s involvement with major projects like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and GNU Privacy Guard pushed him upwards as a leader in the field.
He was also deeply involved in a network of cryptographers including blockchain inventor David Chaum.
All of this and more, have only fueled the ongoing theories connecting him to Bitcoin.
So much so, that even Polymarket bettors seem to think that his profile fits that of Nakamoto.
According to an ongoing poll on the betting site, 51% of participants believe this legend and Satoshi Nakamoto are the same people.
Len Sassaman as Nakamoto
It is also a major coincidence that Sassaman passed away just two months after Satoshi went silent online in 2011.
Sasaman was born in Pennsylvania, before eventually becoming a cryptography prodigy.
By his late teens, he was deeply involved in computer privacy before joining the cypherpunk movement in San Francisco.
Aside from his contributions to building PGP, he also founded the SaaS startup Osogato with computer scientist Meredith Patterson (his wife).
Despite his personal achievements, Sassaman had personal struggles.
At just 31 years old, he died by suicide while pursuing a doctorate in electrical engineering in Belgium.
His death shook the cryptography community and a tribute to him is even encoded in Block 138725 of the Bitcoin blockchain.
Interestingly, the theory of Sassaman being Satoshi Nakamoto is based on more than mere coincidences.
His deep involvement in the cryptography field and his connection to figures like David Chaum are just one of many.
Others include his extensive body of work concerning privacy technologies was enough to convince anyone he was capable of inventing Bitcoin.
Analysts have even used Linguistics to draw parallels between Nakamoto’s writing style in the Bitcoin whitepaper and Sassaman’s.
“I’ve moved on to other things”
Coupled with how he passed just after Nakamoto went silent, speculators have theorized that Sassaman knew the end was near and chose to take his secret to the grave.
However, Sassaman’s widow Meredith Patterson has publicly stated that she does not believe her husband was Bitcoin’s creator.
She has also stated that there is no concrete proof beyond mere coincidence.
Still, the mystery endures until a definitive answer turns up beyond all doubt.
While Len Sassaman is a major choice among speculators, he isn’t the only one being considered.
Hal Finney, another cypherpunk is a major candidate as well.
Finney was one of the earliest adopters of Bitcoin. In another coincidence, Finney passed away three years after Sassaman in 2014 from ALS.
It is interesting how Finney had direct involvement with Bitcoin’s early development.
He even claimed to have received the first-ever Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto himself.
However even though many believe Finney’s technical abilities make him a likely candidate—others believe he was too closely associated with Bitcoin to have remained anonymous for that long.
Nick Szabo is another name that frequently pops up in conversation.
Szabo is a computer scientist like the other two. He is also known for his work on digital contracts and digital currency long before Bitcoin existed.
Szabo’s creation of bit gold (a precursor to Bitcoin) has led some to believe he might be Satoshi.
However, the same linguistics used to link Sassaman to Nakamoto have disproved Szabo’s candidacy.
Szabo unlike the other two, remains alive and well and has repeatedly stated that he is not Bitcoin's creator.
Whoever Satoshi Nakamoto turns out to be though, they are sitting on a staggering fortune.
The wallet address connected to Nakamoto currently holds around 1 million Bitcoins.
This puts Nakamoto's net worth at roughly $66 billion and makes them one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.
Yet, this massive stack of wealth hasn't moved—not once—in fifteen years.
This brings us to the story of Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist who claimed that he was Satoshi Nakamoto between 2016 and 2024.
Wright spent nearly a decade suing anyone who challenged his claims, before being dragged to court by COPA.
Eventually, the British High Court found Wright to have forged documents and lied extensively to the court to support his claim.
Wright now faces potential perjury charges in England and has his assets frozen.
The upcoming HBO documentary on 8 October has teased the possibility of uncovering Satoshi’s identity but is unlikely to make any concrete revelations.
Is Len Sassaman Satoshi? Bitcoin’s history is likely to remain a mystery going forward, seeing as most of the major contenders are unable to affirm or reject any claims.
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