HBO Bitcoin documentary claims to unmask Satoshi Nakamoto

Originally published at: HBO Bitcoin documentary claims to unmask Satoshi Nakamoto - Boing Boing

If it is Todd, there are some accusations that indicate he may be a terrible person:

But if true that wouldn’t exactly be surprising. Seems like every techbro even tangentially connected to bitcoin is terrible, so I would expect nothing less from its inventor.

If Nakamoto really is sitting on billions of dollars worth of bitcoin that is some fairly impressive delayed gratification though, whoever it may be.

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The form of Todd’s denial is also telling. A halfway decent (or repentant) person might say “No! I’m not the person who invented an exchange mechanism for the worst criminals on the planet that’s also contributed to global warming”. Instead, it’s “Don’t say that! People might try to kill me in order to steal my money!”

Clearly, whether of not he’s Satoshi (I lean toward “not”), this is a techbro who never outgrew his college Libertarianism.

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Yeah, but it’s not like the HBO guy was ever likely to claim that someone with no known interest or involvement with Bitcoin was the guy who created it.

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Hasn’t there been recent movement of some Nakamoto bitcoin? Eventually, whoever it is is going to face the tax authorities of their country if they cash out some of it.

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In the interval since that BTC was first mined, I’m confident that whoever Nakamoto actually is has gotten himself a PhD-level education in money laundering.

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Todd has expressed concerns about the documentary, stating that such claims could expose him to potential dangers like robbery or kidnapping, because Nakamoto has over $64 billion worth of Bitcoin at its current valuation.

This is something that always strikes me, every time the media decides some random person is “Satoshi” - they’re risking that person’s life with their (often lazy) speculation.

To be fair, if someone accused me of being “Satoshi Nakamoto,” that would be my immediate objection as well, even though I think, unlike this guy, that Bitcoin should die in a fire.

The speculation is that “Satoshi” is either dead or has lost access to those bitcoins. Given the nature of bitcoin and whoever is behind them, those seem the most likely explanations.

Other reporters have, though. (Somewhat absurdly.) I recollect one guy got a lot of press about potentially being “Satoshi” who had never publicly been involved in cryptocurrency at all. The accusation seemed pretty arbitrary, but it got in newspapers.

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Do you mean Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto?

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Inherent personality limitations and the brain-rotting influence of those potential riches might be a problem there. :man_shrugging:

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Just wait for the big reveal that Satoshi is actually Banksy and this has all been an elaborate performance piece.

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Yeah, I think that was him. I just vaguely remember reading an article making the claim, but the article itself was convincing me of the opposite, it was so absurd…

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