PORTLAND, Oregon – A new HBO documentary about the origins of Bitcoin suggests that Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the original cryptocurrency, is likely Canadian software developer Peter Todd.
The 100-minute film, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, on Oct 8 features interviews with a handful of people involved with Bitcoin from early on, including long-time Nakamoto candidate Adam Back, investor Roger Ver, Bitcoin marketer Samson Mow and Mr Todd.
The documentary’s creator Cullen Hoback used circumstantial evidence such as postings from an early Bitcoiner forum, to guess that Mr Todd is Nakamoto.
When confronted, Mr Todd shrugged off the idea, and called the suggestion “ludicrous”. Like several people in the film, he said, at one point, “I am Satoshi Nakamoto” while seemingly laughing the idea off.
Who exactly Nakamoto is – a person or a group – has been much speculated upon since Bitcoin’s launch in January 2009. The cryptocurrency has since burst onto the mainstream, becoming part of US exchange-traded funds that hold billions of dollars worth of the token.
Over the years, various publications have suggested a variety of people were Nakamoto. In 2014, Newsweek claimed he was physicist Dorian Nakamoto, which he denied.
In 2015, the New York Times pointed the finger at computer scientist Nick Szabo.
Australian Craig Wright famously proclaimed himself to be Nakamoto, until a British judge ruled he is not Bitcoin’s creator.
Mr Todd is listed as an applied cryptography consultant on developer platform GitHub, which says he is based in Toronto.
A LinkedIn profile for someone of the same name lists him as “Chief Naysayer” at Bitcoin security provider Coinkite, chief scientist at anonymising wallet service Dark Wallet and chief scientist at project Mastercoin.
He graduated with a bachelor’s of arts in integrated media from OCAD