Who Created Bitcoin? A New Documentary Claims to Have Solved the 'Greatest Question of the Internet Age'

Mar. 15, 2025

A statue of Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto in Budapest, Hungary.Photo:Janos Kummer/Getty Images

Janos Kummer/Getty Images

What is Bitcoin? It’s a question many have been asking since the crytocurrency became a part of the lexicon some 15 years ago. But for those already in the know, a more pressing question has been this one: Who is the person responsible for springing it on global economics?

Cullen Hoback.Courtesy of HBO

Courtesy of HBO

The documentary, which premiered on Oct. 8, explains, for beginners, what the cryptocurrency is and goes through its long, controversial history. “Who cares about Bitcoin?” Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, rhetorically asks in an old clip at the beginning of the doc as the 2010 value of one bitcoin flashes on the screen.

Spoiler alert: It’s 23 cents.

A group of people, includingDonald Trump, are heard and seen characterizing Bitcoin as a “scam” as we see its value increasing onscreen over the years that follow. A decade and a half after its launch, the documentary claims, “Bitcoin has become the 10th most valuable asset in the world.”

But still, the trillion-dollar question persists: Who created it?

Adam Back.Courtesy of HBO

Nakamoto created Bitcoin in 2008, and then they seemed to vanish around the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011, before the cryptocurrency really took off.

Cullen travels around the world and speaks to various experts and insiders, including Blockstream CEO Adam Back, early Bitcoin developerPeter Toddand “Bitcoin Jesus” Roger Ver, to get to the bottom of why Satoshi vanished and, more importantly, who they are. Are they still alive? Did they ever even exist?

Roger Ver.Courtesy of HBO

Australian businessman Craig Wright claimed to be Nakamoto at one point, which effectively ruled him out and eventually landed him in the crosshairs of theU.K. High Court.

The documentary throws out several other names — Blockstream cofounder Gregory Maxwell, computer scientist Nick Szabo, researcher and investor Wei Dei and the late Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney — before landing on one man: Peter Todd.

Peter Todd.Courtesy of HBO

Todd, a young Canadian who was still a college student in the early days of Bitcoin, says he didn’t get involved in Bitcoin until 2014. But Cullen uncovers evidence that Todd had posted on the Bitcoin forum as far back as 2010, finishing one of Nakamoto’s thoughts before disappearing from the platform two days before Nakamoto vanished from the forum.

Todd starts chuckling when Cullen presents him with his suspicion. “I will admit, you’re pretty creative,” he says. “You come up with some crazy theories. It’s ludicrous, but it’s the kind of theory that someone who spends his time as a documentary journalist would come up with.”

He goes on to call Cullen’s theory “just another example of journalists really missing the point in a way that’s very funny.”

“What is the point?” Cullen asks.

That may be amusing to Todd, but it’s not exactly a denial.

Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mysteryis now streaming on Max.

source: people.com