It was previously thought that Satoshi Nakamoto's identity would be attributed to Len Sassaman in Hoback's documentary - specifically, it was his identity that appeared to be at the forefront of a decentralised betting platform called Polymarket. In other words, traders thought this was the most likely scenario.

Sassaman was a well-known cryptographer and activist involved in the digital privacy movement. He also worked on anonymity and internet security-related projects like Mixmaster and collaborated with key figures in the crypto world.


Developer and privacy enthusiast Len Sassaman

Along with this, Sassaman has espoused the ideals of cryptoanarchism and actively promoted technologies that protect users’ personal data online. Many in the cryptocurrency community believed that his knowledge and ideals coincided with the philosophy behind the creation of Bitcoin, making him one of the possible candidates for the role of Satoshi Nakamoto.

However, the writers of the HBO documentary still chose another user as the likely creator of the world’s first cryptocurrency.

Who is Peter Todd in Bitcoin?

Peter Todd is a Canadian who started contributing to the Bitcoin code in 2012 and calls himself a “cryptochronomancer” on Twitter. During the so-called Bitcoin block size war, which lasted from August 2015 to November 2017, Todd supported the “small blocks” side along with Adam Back and Blockstream.

Todd is the founder of OpenTimestamps, an open source project designed to create a timestamp standard on the blockchain. He has worked on second-tier projects including Counterparty, Mastercoin and Colored Coins, and was involved in the launch of Zcash in 2016.

Bitcoin developer and early user Peter Todd

In 2019, Todd was accused of sexual harassment by privacy technology expert Isis Lovecraft, developer of the anonymous Tor browser. In 2020, he settled a defamation lawsuit filed in response to that accusation.

Hoback attributes the creation of Bitcoin specifically to Peter Todd for a number of reasons. In the documentary itself, the filmmaker described them as follows.

What if the real reason for using Satoshi’s name for anonymity was so that people could take Bitcoin seriously, so that they could believe that it was created by a famous cryptographer and not some kid still in school?

The director of the HBO documentary about Bitcoin creator Cullen Hoback

Todd was graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the age of 20 in 2008, which was the year Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper.

Following the premiere of the documentary, Hoback’s interview with Todd and Adam Beck, CEO of Blockstream, was published. During the discussion, the filmmaker stated the following.

I think the John Dillon nickname [an anonymous BitcoinTalk participant who is linked to Satoshi – editor’s note] was created so that you could have an excuse to develop replace-by-fee, a concept you came up with a few years ago. But you needed an excuse to implement it. Besides, you needed a cover for a post from 2010.

In this quote, Hoback refers to Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 125 submitted by Todd in 2015, as well as a 2010 post on BitcoinTalk. According to Hoback, in it Todd inadvertently responded on behalf of his real account in a track created by Satoshi Nakamoto.

Todd’s message on Bitcointalk

Hoback’s theory is based on Todd’s chat message, where he calls himself “the world’s leading expert on bitcoin donation.”

The filmmaker described the message as Todd’s “admission” that he destroyed the ability to access 1.1 million BTC that allegedly belong to Satoshi Nakamoto and were mined by an anonymous developer through mining.

Todd himself denies all the theories against him and considers them absurd. According to Forbes' sources, Peter admitted in an interview that the documentary's creators are "just grasping at the last straw" to capitalise on the hype surrounding Satoshi Nakamoto's real identity.

Todd has already reacted to the film’s premiere on HBO. In particular, he directly stated that he is not Satoshi Nakamoto. However, jokers in the comments noted that the comment of the real developer of Bitcoin on what is happening should have turned out to be just that.

Developer Peter Todd’s statement that he is not the creator of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto

Peter also used the popular phrase that “we are all Satoshi – except Craig Wright”. This is about a fraudster who has been impersonating the creator of Bitcoin for years and doing so unsuccessfully.

Developer Peter Todd’s statement that Satoshi is everyone but Craig Wright

The community found the documentary’s evidence unconvincing. Moreover, the film could be dangerous for Todd himself, if someone suddenly really believes that he is the very Satoshi Nakamoto and keeps a huge stockpile of bitkions.


It is safe to say that the HBO documentary did not reveal anything new on the subject and cannot be a good basis for theories about Satoshi. The creators only artificially inflated the hype and used it for their own benefit. Well, Todd himself denies being involved in the creation of Bitcoin, which seems to be a logical decision for him in any scenario.