New HBO documentary aims to reveal Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's true identity

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 are that if Nakamoto is still around, the Bitcoin creator could control as much as 1.1 million bitcoin, currently worth about $67 billion, at least on paper.

The documentary, entitled "Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery" and out next Wednesday, Oct. 9, was created by Cullen Hoback, the director of "Q: Into the Storm," the docu-series that exposed those behind the QAnon conspiracy theory. The trailer was released on Thursday.

"We make a hell of a case in the film, and I think that who we land on is unexpected and is going to result in a fair amount of controversy," said Hoback in an interview with Fast Company . "I think that people are going to debate it regardless of how strong of a case we made, 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 took to X on Thursday to say he heard the HBO documentary claims the true identity of Nakamoto is Len Sassaman. Thorn also linked a Medium post from 2021 which explores the theory that Sassaman, who committed suicide, was in fact Nakamoto.