HBO Documentary on Bitcoin Creator

An upcoming HBO documentary aims to reveal the true identity of the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Nakamoto, the famously anonymous inventor of Bitcoin, apparently vanished in December 2010. Estimates suggest that if Nakamoto is still alive, the Bitcoin creator could control as much as 1.1 million bitcoins, currently valued at about $67 billion, at least on paper.

The documentary, entitled Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, is set to premiere next Wednesday, Oct. 9, and was created by Cullen Hoback, director of Q: Into the Storm, which uncovered those behind the QAnon conspiracy theory. The trailer was released on Thursday.

Hoback stated in an interview with Fast Company, “We make a hell of a case in the film, and I think that who we land on is unexpected and will result in a fair amount of controversy. I believe people will debate it regardless of how strong our case is, and that’s fine. That’s the nature of this space. We had a lot more evidence than we were able to include in the film.”

Galaxy Digital’s Head of Research, Alex Thorn, mentioned on X that the HBO documentary claims the true identity of Nakamoto is Len Sassaman, who committed suicide. Thorn also shared a Medium post from 2021 exploring this theory.