Who invented Bitcoin? HBO’s “Money Electric” delves into the Satoshi mystery

Who invented Bitcoin? This question has become a compelling mystery for the digital age, much like what happened to DB Cooper or who Deep Throat was in the Watergate scandal.

Documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback believes he has the answer. His new HBO documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” looks at the rise of cryptocurrencies and the attempt to uncover the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym used by the author of the 11-page white paper that launched Bitcoin and the broader crypto craze after it was widely shared online on October 31, 2008.

For Hoback, delving into crypto mania was a natural transition after exploring the internet’s underworld in his 2021 HBO docuseries “Q: Into the Storm.” This six-part series has put forward a theory about the people driving the dangerous and delusional theories spread under the moniker QAnon. Both “Q” and “Money Electric” grew out of Hoback’s interest in how the digital revolution is changing culture and social order. The rise of crypto has been driven by the desire of many to establish a decentralized financial system – governed by publicly accessible blockchain ledgers rather than institutions like Bank of America or Goldman Sachs – and the growing demand for easier ways to conduct financial transactions online pushed forward across borders.

“I have spent the last 10 years speaking about digital rights and digital privacy issues. That’s why I’ve wanted to make a film about Bitcoin for some time,” says Hoback diversity. “I wanted to discuss something [crypto] tried to be compared to what it became. It tried to be digital cash. It really became more like digital gold.”

“Money Electric” follows Hoback’s investigative efforts to shed light on the Satoshi question. He went into it without being sure that he would come to a firm conclusion. But after delving into crypto culture, he came to believe that the father of Bitcoin is Canadian crypto developer Peter Todd.

Todd has denied Hoback’s claim. On October 9, the day after “Money Electric” debuted on HBO, Todd told the BBC flatly, “I’m not Satoshi Nakamoto,” calling the claim “ridiculous.”

Todd is a well-known figure in the crypto conference scene. He spoke to Hoback on camera for “Money Electric.”

“We filmed with him several times. He likes to be on stage. He likes to talk about Bitcoin. You can see that over the last decade when he got a microphone he took advantage of that opportunity,” Hoback said. “Assuming he’s Satoshi – I think when you’ve gotten away with something for so long and managed to muddy the situation so well, you probably think no one’s going to catch you anymore.”

Hoback says he followed the Bitcoin story because the call for an end to the Satoshi mystery made for a compelling story, but also because of its broader significance. Bitcoin’s inventor famously kept 1.1 million coins – or 5% of the 21 million Bitcoins ever mined, according to protocols outlined in the white paper. At current Bitcoin prices – worth $68,140.74 against the dollar at Friday’s close – these holdings represent enormous wealth. There has been speculation that whoever is behind Bitcoin is holding these 1.1 Destroyed or intentionally left behind millions of coins. Hoback is skeptical.

Hoback financed the first year of work on “Money Electric” out of his own pocket until HBO came on board. The slow but steady advance of crypto products into mainstream financial systems – El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in 2021 – has sparked broader interest in the topic. Filmmaker Adam McKay is an executive producer with Hoback on “Money Electric,” as well as “Q: Into the Storm.”

“I only really wanted to tell the story if I felt like we could at least come up with a compelling theory about who was behind Bitcoin,” he said. “I picked up where other researchers left off and compiled a short list. And I said, “Okay, if I get access to some of the players on this network, one of them is probably Satoshi or he knew who created Bitcoin.” But what really motivated me was the story of global adoption. When El Salvador announced that it was going to use Bitcoin as legal tender, that really breathed new life into the story for me.”

The crypto markets have experienced a wild boom in recent years. The trading price of Bitcoin and other tokens plummeted in the spring of 2022, but the markets have recovered significantly. Still, it remains a volatile world, vulnerable to theft, hacking, and loss of the all-important electronic digital “keys,” which crypto owners guard as carefully as others guard the key to a physical safe deposit box. The implosion of popular crypto trading exchange FTX and the conviction of founder Sam Bankman-Fried also cast a major spotlight on the potential for making fortunes through smart token trading – and the potential for massive fraud.

“What I find interesting about Bitcoin is that it is a crossroads of unlikely allies,” Hoback said. “There are libertarians, there are financial people, there are stock market people and there are technologists. There are nerds who sit at their computers all day and then, and then there are just people who are looking for a place to put their money in the hope that it will somehow get them out of the rat race.”

(Image above: Peter Todd in “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery”)