Updated on:12/18/2025 04:48 PM 
The recent HBO documentary "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency community by suggesting Canadian Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. This controversial documentary, produced by Cullen Hobak, presents what it claims is compelling evidence to support this bold assertion in its 100-minute runtime.
Todd, who was an early participant in the Bitcoin community, is theorized to have adopted the Satoshi persona to enhance Bitcoin's credibility in its formative years. According to the documentary's producer, this pseudonym created the impression that Bitcoin was developed by an established cryptographer rather than "a student" - particularly relevant as Todd was completing his art degree around the time Bitcoin's whitepaper was published in 2008.
The documentary builds its case around several pieces of circumstantial evidence, including Todd's cryptic online communications. One notable example highlighted in the film is a post where Todd described himself as "the world's leading expert on how to sacrifice your Bitcoins," which the documentary interprets as a possible admission that he destroyed access to the estimated 1.1 million BTC attributed to Nakamoto.
Further speculation arises from claims that Todd once accidentally posted from Satoshi's account on the BitcoinTalk forum in 2010. Additionally, the documentary emphasizes Todd's advocacy for the controversial Replace-by-Fee (RBF) proposal, suggesting that only someone with intimate knowledge of Bitcoin's original code - like its creator - could have introduced such a technical feature.
HBO's theory has had significant financial implications on prediction markets, particularly on the decentralized platform Polymarket. Prior to the documentary's release, users had heavily bet on Len Sassaman, a deceased cypherpunk, being Satoshi. As of October 5th, Sassaman maintained a 67% probability of being identified as Bitcoin's creator, but his odds plummeted to under 10% by October 8th following the documentary's claims.
In the weeks leading up to the film's release, other prominent figures like cryptographer Nick Szabo and Blockstream CEO Adam Back had emerged as frontrunners in the betting markets. However, the market ultimately concluded that Satoshi's identity was either still unknown or potentially represented by a group of individuals rather than a single person.
The Polymarket pool saw extraordinary trading volume, with over $44 million exchanged before the documentary's public release, highlighting the intense interest in solving Bitcoin's greatest mystery.
The documentary has faced intense criticism from key figures throughout the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Peter Todd himself vehemently denied Hoback's claim, calling it "ludicrous" and explicitly stating on social media platform X that he has never been involved in Bitcoin's creation.
Bitcoin community members have also expressed their disappointment with the documentary's approach. Pledditor, a prominent Bitcoin advocate, criticized the documentary, arguing that all Nakamoto theories suffer from confirmation bias. According to Pledditor, theorists tend to focus on a few notable individuals, retroactively finding "coincidences" to support their predetermined conclusions, a methodology that leads to stalking and unethical doxxing.
The backlash has been particularly strong from industry experts. Ki Young Ju, founder of CryptoQuant, labeled the documentary "disgusting" for drawing its conclusions despite disagreement from numerous Bitcoin experts. He compared the documentary's approach to promoting a flat-earth theory without proper scientific review.
BitMEX Research also dismissed the theory that Todd is Satoshi, specifically refuting the interpretation of the 2010 BitcoinTalk post. The firm stated that Todd's comment was simply a sarcastic reply to Satoshi and not an admission of any kind. Meanwhile, Muneeb Ali, CEO of Trust Machines and co-creator of the Stacks blockchain, criticized the documentary for prioritizing sensationalism over factual accuracy in the pursuit of solving Bitcoin's creator mystery.
