Is Peter Todd the mysterious mind behind Bitcoin?
4:13 PM EDT, October 9, 2024
According to an HBO documentary, Peter Todd is alleged to be the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. The channel suggests that the Canadian developer is hiding under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the cryptocurrency's founder. Todd, however, distances himself from HBO's claims.
Cullen Hoback, a multiple award-winning documentary filmmaker, concluded that Peter Todd is the creator of Bitcoin. The film focuses on Satoshi Nakamoto, a mysterious figure or group of people, who introduced digital currency several years ago. Hoback reportedly connected old and new clues about Nakamoto's past, according to Politico.
"It seems like you had these deep insights into Bitcoin at the time?" Hoback asked Todd in the documentary. The Canadian responded, "Well, yeah, I'm Satoshi Nakamoto."
However, that doesn't mean the 39-year-old Todd actually confessed to creating Bitcoin. Politico points out that Todd, who actively defends Ukraine and Israel on platform X, is known for saying, "I am Satoshi." This is how he expresses solidarity with the creator or creators of Bitcoin in their pursuit of privacy.
Todd reportedly wrote in an email to CoinDesk before the HBO film's premiere that he is not the creator of Bitcoin. He expressed a similar sentiment on platform X.
"The truth is pretty simple: there's hundreds, even thousands of people who could have created Bitcoin. We're not going to find Satoshi," wrote Peter Todd.
A decade of speculation
If Todd were to be widely recognized as the creator of Bitcoin, this revelation would end over a decade of speculation about the identity of the person whose work spawned a global, multi-billion-dollar craze for digital currencies: a mania that has pushed the boundaries of finance but also enabled widespread fraud and other illegal activities, Politico evaluates.
"He is one of the most important bitcoiners, from a technical perspective," Nic Carter from Castle Island Ventures commented to Politico.
According to Carter, Todd cannot be Satoshi Nakamoto. Why? It involves the deep knowledge that the creator of Bitcoin would need to possess about cryptography and digital financial systems. "I personally hope we never find out who Satoshi is," he concluded.
