The HBO documentary “Cash Electrical: Bitcoin Thriller” boldly claimed that Canadian Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

This documentary, produced by Karen Hoback, presents some circumstantial proof to assist this conclusion over its 100-minute operating time.

Why does HBO consider Todd is Satoshi?

It has been recommended that Todd, an early participant within the BTC neighborhood, used Satoshi's identification to extend Bitcoin's credibility.

In accordance with Hoback, the pseudonym seemed that Bitcoin was created by a longtime cryptographer fairly than a “pupil.” When the Bitcoin white paper was printed in 2008, Todd was ending up his artwork diploma.

Moreover, the documentary depends on circumstantial proof, together with Todd's cryptic on-line posts, to make its case.

One such put up, through which Todd referred to as himself “the world's main skilled on easy methods to victimize Bitcoin,” claimed he had entry to an estimated 1.1 million BTC attributed to Nakamoto. It was interpreted that he could have admitted to destroying the property.

Additional hypothesis arose from claims in 2010 that Todd had as soon as mistakenly posted from Satoshi's account on the BitcoinTalk boards.

It additionally highlights Todd's assist for the controversial Exchange-by-Payment (RBF) proposal. The documentary means that solely somebody like Nakamoto, who was acquainted with Bitcoin's unique code, might have launched such technical options.

Polymarket bettors had been principally fallacious.

HBO's concept has resulted in enormous losses for decentralized prediction platform Polymarket, the place customers had been betting massive that cypherpunk Len Sassaman, who died in 2021, was Satoshi. As of Oct. 5, Sassaman's odds had been 67%, however by Oct. 8, his odds had fallen beneath 10%.

Famend cryptologist Nick Szabo and Blockstream CEO Adam Again have emerged as high candidates to provide the documentary. Nonetheless, the market finally concluded that Satoshi's true identification was both unknown or a mix of individuals.

Polymarket's pool noticed greater than $44 million in buying and selling quantity previous to the movie's launch.

Group backlash

The documentary has been met with robust criticism from key figures within the crypto business. Todd himself denied Hoback's claims within the documentary, calling them “ridiculous.” He additionally clarified about X:

“I'm not Satoshi.”

Preditor, a distinguished member of the Bitcoin neighborhood, criticized the documentary, claiming that each one Nakamoto theories undergo from affirmation bias.

Preditor defined that theorists typically deal with a small variety of notable people and retrospectively discover “coincidences” to assist their claims. They are saying the methodology is flawed and results in stalking and unethical disclosure of non-public data. He added:

They added:

“It's impossible that any of the semi-public figures who’re often accused of being Satoshi are Satoshi. That's why, within the absence of concrete proof, we must always think about Satoshi Nakamoto's identification concept as our personal.” All it might do is (most likely) put a $60 billion bounty on the again of the fallacious individual.”

Ki Younger Ju, founding father of CryptoQuant, went as far as to label the documentary “disgusting” for its conclusions regardless of the disagreements of Bitcoin consultants. He likened this to selling the flat Earth concept with out scientific verification.

BitMEX Analysis additionally dismissed the speculation that Todd is Satoshi as “ridiculous” primarily based on a 2010 BitcoinTalk put up. The corporate stated Todd's put up was merely a sarcastic response to Satoshi, including:

“There's no cause to consider that is Satoshi.”

In the meantime, Muneeb Ali, CEO of Belief Machines and co-creator of the Stacks blockchain, stated:

“Let me be clear: Peter Todd will not be Satoshi. Anybody who has labored severely within the Bitcoin business is aware of this.”

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