The documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" has caused a lot of controversy when it announced that Peter Todd was Satoshi Nakamoto with an unconvincing argument, raising many doubts in the community and leaving the mystery of Bitcoin's creator still unsolved.
On October 9, HBO officially launched the documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery", with the announcement that it would reveal the true identity of Bitcoin's "father", Satoshi Nakamoto.

The film immediately caused a stir when it confirmed that Bitcoin developer Peter Todd was Satoshi. However, strong reactions from both the community and Todd himself quickly sparked controversy, leaving the biggest mystery in blockchain history still unsolved.

Who is Peter Todd?

Peter Todd is a Canadian programmer, famous for his important contributions to improving and securing the Bitcoin protocol. He was an early participant in the cryptocurrency community and is known for his proposals to improve the security and efficiency of Bitcoin, including the Replace-by-Fee (RBF) concept, which allows unconfirmed transactions to be replaced with higher-fee transactions, improving transaction processing.
Todd became interested in blockchain technology at a very young age, around the age of 15, when he began interacting with pioneers in the field such as Hal Finney and Adam Back. By the age of 23, when Satoshi Nakamoto launched Bitcoin in 2009, Todd had become involved in the development of Bitcoin, becoming one of the main figures in the community.

Director Cullen Hoback's Inference

Over the course of nearly two hours of the film, director Cullen Hoback takes the audience back to the early days of Bitcoin. He focused on key figures believed to be closely involved with Bitcoin, such as Blockstream CEO Adam Back and Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd.
Hoback built a hypothesis that Peter Todd could be Satoshi Nakamoto, based on a series of “evidences” that he considered “quite compelling.” Notably, Peter Todd used his personal account to reply to a forum post by Satoshi, which Hoback said was no coincidence. According to him, this could be a sign that Todd and Satoshi are actually the same person, using multiple accounts to remain anonymous and continuing to develop Bitcoin under different identities.

Additionally, both Todd and Satoshi use British/Canadian spelling, and Satoshi’s posting schedule matches his student schedule perfectly – coinciding with the time when Todd was still in school. Furthermore, both accounts were deactivated at the same time, a suspicious coincidence that has often been attributed to people suspected of being Satoshi Nakamoto.

Furthermore, the film delves into comparing Peter Todd's programming style to the original Bitcoin source code, particularly Todd's use of the C++ language. According to Hoback, Todd had experimented with technologies like Hashcash, a precursor to Bitcoin, as a young man. He argues that the source code Todd wrote at the time bears many similarities to the code in early versions of Bitcoin created by Satoshi Nakamoto, suggesting that Todd may have played an important role in the early development of the king coin.

Hoback also suggests that the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" was created to make Bitcoin more serious and thus attract attention from the community.

The Ending Is Full of Hints

The film ends with Peter Todd saying, “Yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto.” However, this admission is not definitive proof that Todd is the creator of Bitcoin. Todd has long used the phrase “I am Satoshi” as a way to show respect for the real founder’s privacy, leaving the film’s conclusion ambiguous and not really giving a definitive answer.

Interestingly, before the film’s official release, a group of users edited the information on the film’s IMDB page, listing the entire cast as playing Satoshi Nakamoto. This makes Peter Todd’s line at the end of the film, “Yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto,” sound like a joke, reminiscent of the popular “We Are All Satoshi” meme that has spread throughout the cryptocurrency community.

Although IMDB quickly edited the page, the move only added to the curiosity surrounding the person behind this legendary pseudonym.

Peter Todd Denies Being Satoshi

The film would have been fine if Peter Todd had not denied being Satoshi Nakamoto just before the film aired. On the X platform and in an email to CoinDesk, Todd asserted that he did not create Bitcoin, and that the arguments in the film were baseless speculation.

Todd also criticized director Cullen Hoback for trying to connect the dots without understanding the nature of the technology, leading to false conclusions. He also emphasized that the "I am Satoshi" line in the film was meant as a joke, not an admission. He also expressed concern that these baseless accusations could expose him to the risk of blackmail and threats, similar to what happened to Hal Finney, another individual who was suspected of being Satoshi.

Community Reaction

The film immediately received a lot of criticism from the community about the accuracy of Cullen Hoback's conclusion. Analyst Adam Cochran criticized the film for making baseless speculations and lacking understanding of Bitcoin technology, not providing any clear evidence to prove that Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto. The irresponsible nature of the film in asserting that Todd is Satoshi, while he is alive and has denied this. Even the details about when Todd joined Bitcoin are distorted, showing the lack of accuracy in the filmmaking process.

In addition, many people are skeptical that the film has actually "decoded" the biggest mystery of Bitcoin when the top hackers and mysterious programmers have not yet been able to find out Satoshi's identity, but a random documentary filmmaker claims to have the answer, making many people unable to trust the film's conclusion.

Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3 and former chief strategy officer of Blockstream, also spoke out against Hoback's argument. "Cullen may have his reasons for believing that, but I still think Peter is not Satoshi," Mow said.

The mysteries behind the film

The film has left many mysteries and contradictions surrounding the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Most notably, Peter Todd's ambiguous admission in the film, when he says "Yes, I am Satoshi Nakamoto," but then quickly denies it on social media, claiming it was just a joke. Why would Todd make such a statement in the film, only to immediately deny it? It's unclear whether Todd was just joking or intentionally misleading.

The film has also been criticized for providing misleading information about when Todd joined the Bitcoin community. This is a mistake that could undermine the credibility of the film and make viewers doubt the accuracy of other arguments. If basic facts like the time are also wrong, then Hoback's other speculations become even less convincing. The mystery is why these basic facts were not thoroughly verified before being included in the film?

One of the biggest concerns after the film's release was that Todd could become a target for blackmail and threats, just like what happened to Hal Finney. The irresponsible act of the film labeling Todd as Satoshi without clear evidence could have serious consequences for him. This leads to the question: Was Hoback aware of the consequences of calling Todd Satoshi without sufficient evidence, and why did Todd agree to be Satoshi in the film?

Conclusion

While the HBO film has generated a lot of controversy, it ultimately falls into the long line of failed attempts to identify Satoshi. Willem Schroé, CEO of Botanix Labs, believes that Satoshi’s anonymity over the past 15 years is an incredible achievement, and that not knowing Satoshi’s true identity may be what has protected Bitcoin from the negative effects of its founder. Samson Mow notes:

“Bitcoin has outlived the need for a founder. Regardless of Satoshi’s true identity, Bitcoin is still the world’s largest cryptocurrency.”

HBO’s conclusion also throws off all previous predictions from the crypto community, as evidenced by the fact that the Polymarket prediction market has seen the odds of each candidate constantly change, only to end up with an outsider.