Peter Todd says the HBO documentary turned his life into a nightmare. Money Electric aired on the network earlier this month and featured Todd as Satoshi, Bitcoin’s anonymous creator. Todd, the documentary’s protagonist, has denied that he is Satoshi and has since told multiple reporters that the accusations have put his life in danger.
In this documentary, journalist Karen Hoback explores the world of Bitcoin, telling its history and interviewing many of the people involved in its creation and prosperity. The central mystery of cryptocurrencies is their creators. Who was Satoshi? Many journalists have tried and failed to hide this name over the years.
Why is it important? Knowing who Satoshi is may help explain the motivation for the creation of the currency. Hoback argued that it was in the public interest to know the person’s identity. Then there’s cash. Satoshi is the owner of an untouched Bitcoin wallet worth billions of dollars.
“Obviously, if you falsely accuse someone of having tens of billions of dollars, you’re putting yourself at risk for robbery and kidnapping,” Todd told Bloomberg after the documentary aired. “He’s risking my life to promote his movie.”
In subsequent interviews with publications such as Wired and CNN, Todd repeatedly denied that he was Satoshi. Now, Todd tells Wired he’s in hiding. After the documentary aired, his inbox was flooded with emails. Many of them were asking for money. Todd said he expects this to last for the rest of his life. “That question is not only stupid, it’s dangerous. Satoshi obviously didn’t want to be found, but there’s a good reason for that, and no one should help people trying to find him,” Todd said. told Wired.
Hoback’s evidence that Todd is Satoshi is fairly tenuous and largely rejected by the crypto community. Todd was present during the founding of Bitcon and participated in crypto forums. In December 2010, Satoshi was posting about cryptocurrencies on the forum BitcoinTalk. After making a mistake, Todd corrected him. To Hoback, it looked as if Todd had completed Satoshi’s sentence.
It also doesn’t help that, despite Todd’s repeated denials after the documentary aired, he repeatedly looks into the camera and says, “I’m Satoshi” throughout the film. He always said it with a smile, and Todd is a known troll. It was meant as a joke. His latest post on X regarding this controversy is a retweet of a joke accusing Hoback of being Satoshi.
The documentary director is clearly ignoring the fact that he himself is Satoshi.
— From the future (@futurebaht) October 19, 2024
Todd told Wired that it was impossible for him to post as Satoshi at the time because he was on vacation. He provided the publication with a photo of himself taken in 2010 that allegedly contained metadata proving he was not the author of the post. “If I had actually happened to be replying to myself, the obvious thing to do would have been to abandon that account and create a new one,” he said.
Mr. Hoback supported the film and said he believed Todd to be Satoshi.
