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Who is the person/entity behind Bitcoin? Will HBO finally provide irrefutable evidence to establish the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto? Richard Patterson/flickr

KEY POINTS

  • 'Money Electric: the Bitcoin Mystery,' features some of the crypto industry's renowned figures, including Adam Back
  • Samson Mow, featured in the documentary, said the release is a huge opportunity to orange pill more people
  • Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn said he heard the documentary will reveal Len Sassaman as Nakamoto

The mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto has long been a topic of immense interest in the cryptocurrency community. There are many theories about who the creator of Bitcoin really is, and over the years, there has been no conclusive evidence to actually pinpoint who the pseudonymous visionary is.

However, a new HBO documentary may finally unmask the reticent creator of the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency.

HBO Promises Deep Dive Into Bitcoin Origins

HBO stated that in "Money Electric: the Bitcoin Mystery," the world will be drawn deep into the origins of the world's largest digital currency and the identity of its mysterious creator.

"The documentary film offers a thrilling, globe-spanning investigation, with [filmmaker Cullen] Hoback immersing himself with key players, uncovering never-before-seen clues, and humorously unraveling Bitcoin's meteoric rise," the dedicated HBO movie page states.

Trailer Features Key $BTC Advocates, Maxis

The trailer released Thursday features some of the most influential names in the crypto industry, most specifically in the Bitcoin community.

  • Adam Back – A prominent cypherpunk who co-founded Blockstream in 2014. He is a pioneer of blockchain technology and invented Hashcash, a proof-of-work function that blocks denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, among others.
  • Roger Ver – A controversial early BTC adopter and advocate, often called "Bitcoin Jesus" in the community.
  • Ricardo Salinas Pliego – A Mexican billionaire who revealed in 2020 that 10% of his portfolio was linked to BTC.
  • Samson Mow – A former Blockstream executive and Bitcoin maximalist, he also designed El Salvador's BTC bonds.

An Opportunity to Orange Pill the World

Writing on X about the documentary that will air on Oct. 8, Mow said that regardless of what the docu-film unveils regarding Nakamoto's identity, "having Bitcoin up there with Game of Thrones and Sopranos is a great orange pilling opportunity."

Among BTC users, orange-pilling means getting someone else to discover the benefits of Bitcoin, eventually getting the new "orange-pilled" individual to invest in the digital coin.

HBO to Reveal Len Sassaman as Nakamoto?

Alex Thorn, the head of research at digital infrastructure firm Galaxy Digital, revealed that he has heard the HBO documentary "identifies Len Sassaman as Satoshi. Who is he and why did his name come up?"

Sassaman is a renowned computer systems engineer who advocated for information privacy. He has long been associated with Bitcoin and Nakamoto, especially since his death in 2011 coincided with Nakamoto's disappearance from the world of crypto. Nakamoto sent out a final communication some two months before Sassaman passed away, wherein the Bitcoin creator said, "I've moved on to other things and probably won't be around in the future."

Notably, Sassaman was a contributor to the cypherpunk mailing list, where the BTC creator first announced the world's top digital asset.

Will HBO Finally Put an End to 'Craig Wrong' Saga?

The new documentary comes several months after a British court ruled that Aussie computer scientist Craig Wright is not Nakamoto. For years, Wright claimed that he created BTC and even went after developers building on the Bitcoin network.

If HBO's upcoming docu-film provides conclusive evidence regarding its revelations on Nakamoto, it may finally put an end to debates about the mystery and put a certain end to Wright's claims.

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