Who Is Satoshi Nakamoto? 'Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery' Documentary Claims to Have Figured Out the Cryptocurrency Founder's True Identity

The new HBO documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, directed by Cullen Hoback (Q: Into the Storm) claims to have figured out the identity of the elusive figure

People are still trying to figure out who created Bitcoin, even though the cryptocurrency has been around for almost 15 years. But for those who already know, there is a more pressing question: Who created global economics?

The new HBO documentary Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, directed by Cullen Hoback (Q: Into the Storm), claims to have uncovered the identity of the mysterious figure who has been known only by the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" up to this point.

The documentary, which had its premiere on October 8, begins by explaining what cryptocurrency is for beginners and then taking viewers on a journey through its lengthy and tumultuous past.

"Who cares about Bitcoin?" Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, can be heard asking rhetorically in an old clip that appears at the beginning of the documentary as the screen displays the value of one bitcoin in 2010.

Consider this a spoiler: It costs 23 cents.

A group of people, including Donald Trump, can be seen and heard describing Bitcoin as a "scam" as we watch onscreen as its value increases over the following years. According to the documentary, "Bitcoin has become the 10th most valuable asset in the world" a decade and a half after it was first made available to the public.

However, the question that is valued at a trillion dollars continues to be unanswered: Who was the inventor?

Satoshi Nakamoto, who might be a genius behind the decentralized, libertarian dream currency and could be worth more than $1 trillion, is said to be the person behind it — but no-one by that name actually exists. And, as the documentary goes on to explain, Nakamoto disappeared years ago, leading to "the greatest mystery of the internet age" — the Gen Z version of "Who killed Jimmy Hoffa?" and "What happened to D.B. Cooper"?

Bitcoin was created in 2008 by Nakamoto, 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 developer Peter Todd and "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?

At one point, Australian businessman Craig Wright claimed to be Nakamoto, which effectively ruled him out and eventually landed him in the crosshairs of the U.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.

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.

"The point is to make Bitcoin the global currency," Todd replies, still chuckling, "and people like you being distracted by nonsense."

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

Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery is available to stream right now on Max.

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