Was bitcoin’s mysterious creator a Canadian? A new HBO documentary says yes

In the 15 years since bitcoin was first created, no one has been able to crack one mystery: the true identity of the creator, known only as Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Now, a new HBO documentary has opened the case files again to point the finger at a new candidate: Canadian crypto expert and software developer Peter Todd. 

But Todd has laughed off the theory, calling it “ludicrous” in the documentary. And considering the long history of failed attempts to find Satoshi’s identity, HBO’s attempt may just be another on a long list. 

Todd, 39, is one of several figures from the bitcoin world featured in the documentary Money Electric: The bitcoin Mystery. In the roughly 100-minute feature, filmmaker Cullen Hoback speaks to bitcoin personalities, investors and programmers involved in the early development of the cryptocurrency, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, whose name has often been tossed around as a Satoshi possibility. 

Since the documentary’s release on Tuesday, Todd has shared posts from skeptics on social media. 

“I’m not Satoshi,” he said in a reply to a post on X asking him to deny the theory. In another post he called it “nonsense” and “hilarious” and mused that “crazy people might try to get my non-existent fortune.”

Satoshi seemingly vanished from the internet in 2011, but what hasn’t vanished are Satoshi’s holdings. The creator of bitcoin reportedly possesses one million bitcoin, worth more than $60 billion US today.  

If Satoshi is still alive, still has access and returned to sell those holdings, it would make them a billionaire – and profoundly hurt the rest of the bitcoin economy. 

bitcoin’s origin story

On Jan. 3, 2009, as the world was reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, the very first block on the now-infamous blockchain was born. It was the launch of bitcoin, a digital cryptocurrency that operated on peer-to-peer transactions, without intermediaries such as banks, governments or private companies such as PayPal.

The idea had started as a white paper, penned by someone (or someones) called Satoshi Nakamoto. In the first years of bitcoin’s development, Satoshi was active on a developer forum for the currency and communicated with peers like Back. Then, in 2011, Satoshi disappeared. 

It didn’t take long for theories to pop up about the identity of Satoshi, long thought to be a pseudonym. The theories have ranged from Adam Back – who invented a concept called “hashcash” that was mentioned in Satoshi’s original white paper, and who also had an email relationship with Satoshi – to…