Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery is a new documentary that promises to explore one of the longest-standing mysteries of the currency – who is the cryptocurrency’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto?
The documentary has been directed by Cullen Hoback, who received an Emmy nomination for his previous documentary “Q: Into the Storm” which investigated the QAnon conspiracy. Executive producer Adam McKay previously directed the financial crash tale “The Big Short”.
The trailer for Money Electric features clips and snippets from many interviews with people who were involved with Bitcoin right from the beginning, including Adam Back. Back is a British cypherpunk and was one of the first people to collaborate with Nakamoto on Bitcoin in 2009.
The Bitcoin community has long speculated that Back could be a candidate for the identity of Nakamoto, a fact that Back has consistently and adamantly refuted. However, an early 2024 court case in the UK revealed a huge backlog of emails between Back and Nakamoto, theoretically stamping out the speculation that Back might be the pseudonymous Nakamoto.
Despite a slew of articles claiming that the documentary uncovers the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the trailer is much more ambiguous and never states that the identity will be revealed. The only guaranteed way to prove the identity of Nakamoto would be to initiate the movement of Bitcoin from a wallet known to be associated with the creator, which would be noticed immediately on tracking websites.
A few of you might have wondered why I disappeared. Well, I was tracking down someone else who disappeared.
Curious who's behind Bitcoin?#MoneyElectric: The Bitcoin Mystery drops next Tuesday. It's going to be a rollercoaster. #Satoshi https://t.co/2B17FZxkqZ
— Cullen (@CullenHoback) October 3, 2024
In August, journalist Dave Troy attempted to discover information about Nakamoto’s identity by submitting a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI. However, the Bureau refused to confirm or deny the existence of any files on the Bitcoin creator, due to privacy concerns.
Also earlier this year Bitcoin transaction tracking alerted interested parties to the movement of Bitcoin from the “Satoshi Era” (wallets that were around when Satoshi was active between 2009-2011). One wallet moved over 250 Bitcoin that had been dormant for over 15 years, and one moved 50 that had been dormant for 14 years. However, neither of these wallets was directly connected with Satoshi Nakamoto himself.
The documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery airs Wednesday at 2 a.m. CET (Tuesday at 9 p.m. EST) on HBO.
Featured image credit: HBO
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