An HBO doc trying to ID bitcoin’s creator falls flat as Satoshi’s $69B stash stays put

Pullin’ back the mask… and not finding much. The crypto world was abuzz after the Tuesday-night airing of an HBO documentary hyped as revealing the identity of bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The film, “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,” used circumstantial evidence to point to 39-year-old Canadian software developer Peter Todd. Todd denied on X that he created the OG crypto and called the idea “ludicrous” during his interview in the doc. The bitcoin community largely dismissed the film’s conclusion.

• Bet’s off: Before the doc aired, folks wagered who it would identify as Satoshi on the crypto-based prediction site Polymarket. Todd wasn’t even a listed option.

• Not me-mecoin: Traders hoping to strike it big had launched meme coins tied to possible Satoshi candidates, focusing on deceased “cypherpunk” Len Sassaman. 

The $69B stash… Folks have been trying to unmask the mysterious Satoshi for years, and not just for fun. There are potentially major market consequences to the bitcoin creator’s real identity, and to the question of whether they’re still alive. That’s because before Satoshi went quiet, in 2011, they mined an estimated 1.1M BTC. At current prices, that’s worth about $69B and represents 5% of the crypto’s total supply. If Satoshi returned and decided to dump those coins, it could (at least temporarily) tank the price of bitcoin.

• The so-called Satoshi coins are viewable on the blockchain and have never moved.