The creation of Bitcoin is one of the greatest online mysteries ever. Bitcoin’s inventor, who is someone known by the pseudonym of “Satoshi Nakamoto,” disappeared from the public eye in 2011, and not much is known about him or her. Or them? And the reality is no one really knows who Bitcoin creator “Nakamoto” is supposed to be, but a new HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, promises to have solved the mystery.
Nakamoto is one of the richest individuals in the world. He reportedly owns approximately 1 million Bitcoins, stored in multiple wallets, which would be worth around $63 Billion at the current price.
Has Nakamoto truly been found?
Cullen Hoback, who directed Money Electric for HBO, wrote in a post on X that he has effectively tracked down one of the world’s most mysterious figures.
However, this is not Cullen Hoback’s first rendezvous directing a documentary series for HBO. Mr. Hoback had previously directed “Q: Into The Storm”, which exposed the creator of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which is a conspiracy theory that emerged in the depths of 8Chan in 2017.
A few of you might have wondered why I disappeared. Well, I was tracking down someone else who disappeared.
Curious who's behind Bitcoin?#MoneyElectric: The Bitcoin Mystery drops next Tuesday. It's going to be a rollercoaster. #Satoshi
— Cullen (@CullenHoback) October 3, 2024
This HBO documentary about the creator of Bitcoin is also not the first time someone has claimed to know who Nakamoto is. An Australian scientist by the name of Craig Wright had consistently claimed to be Bitcoin’s creator, is perhaps one of the more notable examples. However, earlier this year, he was referred to British prosecutors for alleged perjury.
The documentary is causing quite a stir in the Bitcoin community, so much so that crypto users on the betting site Polymarket have put their money on American cypherpunk and cryptographer Leonard Harris Sassaman as being revealed as Nakamoto. He died in 2011, just after Nakamoto stopped posting on early crypto forums.
Some other candidates include Adam Back, who has been a prominent member of the crypto community for a long time, and even though he helped place the original ciphers for Bitcoin, he has previously stated he is not Bitcoin’s creator.
But what’s the real reason behind the mystery of the Bitcoin creator according to the HBO documentary?
As we have previously established, Bitcoin was created in 2009 by an individual who goes by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The cryptocurrency was invented as a concept in 2008 through a whitepaper, and Nakamoto was involved in the creation of Bitcoin, and blockchain until 2010.
There are many reasons as to why the creators of Bitcoin might have wanted to remain anonymous. For one, the concept of Bitcoin as a whole is intrinsically linked to anonymity, since that’s kind of the point of cryptocurrencies themselves given their decentralized nature.
Nakamoto might have wanted to preserve his anonymity to protect his identity from governments, given that some transactions that have gone down through Bitcoin are done in… sketchy markets that might sell anything. But will the HBO documentary about Bitcoin’s creator reveal a specific name? Now all we can do is watch and see what the story Mr. Hoback and HBO want to tell. The documentary hits Max on October 8, at 9:00 PM EST.
