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HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

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Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#101

Absolutely insane. (1) It's not Peter Todd. Anyone who knows Peter Todd and/or was around in the early days, can clearly tell Satoshi and Peter are not the same person. (2) No good comes from speculation over the identity of Satoshi. When someone living is named, their life becomes absolute hell and the security risk imposed on them is very real. When someone dead is proposed, that hellish experience is passed to the…

> No good comes from speculation over the identity of Satoshi. When someone living is named, their life becomes absolute hell and the security risk imposed on them is very real. When someone dead is proposed, that hellish experience is passed to their family and heirs. Indeed. Cullen should know better: his previous project was a documentary on the QAnon conspiracies, which have managed to get people hurt due to craz…

> I already took some precautions re: security just in case...

Shouldn't you be able to sue HBO for forcing you to take unnecessary expenses?

Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#102
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That person is already dead, and already widely discussed (including here on HN a few days ago) as a candidate.

The person being dead just means their surviving family and heirs are the target instead. It's irresponsible to finger anyone as Satoshi.

> The person being dead just means their surviving family and heirs are the target instead.

Which logically makes little sense TBH in this case in particular, but yeah thugs might not be particularly reasonable.

Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#103

It is Adam Back. Who is more likely to build ontop of some obscure code base called "Hash Cash"? Some random people that trolled the same forums or the original creator of it? Imo this "secret" is known by many people as I have seen so many censorship and misdirection campaigns throughout the years if people mention Adam being the one. Him being Satoshi also makes bitcoin core seem more legitimate. He can guide his c…

Clearly not him. He initially dismissed Bitcoin and jumped on the bandwagon when it started making headlines due to its fast rising price. Plus, Adam Back seeks fame, he would happily claim to be Satoshi if it was really him. He was even criticized early on for seeming to take too much credit for Bitcoin[0].

My guess is that it's someone who was not particularly well-known prior to Bitcoin.

[0] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=225463.0

Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#105

imo it's pretty obvious that he was Hal Finney, potentially with collaborators, and no amount of scripted emails, etc. disproves it for me

My money is on Hal, too. He was in the dorm room next to mine. I've never met an actual genius before or since. Bitcoin is just the thing he would invent. He was interviewed when he could no longer speak. He was asked if he was Satoshi. He just smiled. It's just the kind of joke Hal would play.

Hey, it would be a kindness to Hal's family to not promote this theory. They've been subject to threats and extortion over it.

To the extent that someone could argue that there is some public interest angle, I think that's only arguable in the case of certainty. Speculation is a dime a dozen. Even if there is a public interest angle in identifying Satoshi, I don't think that extends to idle speculation.

Hal was an amazing guy and I feel privileged for the bit of interaction I had with him, refraining from a fun game of public speculation is a small cost. I'm sure if he's cryonically revived in the far future he'll appreciate the consideration. :)

In general speculation like this risks creating a lot of harm for the targets, especially since brutal cryptocurrency related kidnapping and torture appears to be on the rise.

It's unclear what bitcoin Satoshi might have had access too, but people who aren't Satoshi certainly don't have access to it... and the cost of security against criminal gangs hoping for a billion dollar windfall are unreasonable large even for a wealthy person and are unimaginable for someone of more ordinary means.

Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Peter makes it just after joining the form, so he is unlikely to have detailed knowledge of bitcoin. The fact that the inputs, outputs, and fee of a transaction must add up isn't exactly "detailed knowledge" :) I don't think it took me all that long to figure that out when I first tried understanding how Bitcoin worked. And frankly, the core of Bitcoin really isn't all that complex! You can have a very good underst…

Cool to get a reply from you directly, thanks! It seems unlikely to me that it could be thousands of people, given the correspondence had with various people it seems likely to me that a few people have information that could lead in the correct direction. But I guess we'll never know.

I think you misunderstood the context of 'thousands' - - "If anything, I think it could be literally hundreds or even thousands of potential people." - - meaning that, literally, thousands of DIFFERENT people, could be considered, as a potential possibility, of being a possible candidate, of being, Satoshi. Simply put :-P Not that 'thousands' of people are Satoshi, like you misunderstood. - anywho -

Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool to get a reply from you directly, thanks! It seems unlikely to me that it could be thousands of people, given the correspondence had with various people it seems likely to me that a few people have information that could lead in the correct direction. But I guess we'll never know.

I think you misunderstood the context of 'thousands' - - "If anything, I think it could be literally hundreds or even thousands of potential people." - - meaning that, literally, thousands of DIFFERENT people, could be considered, as a potential possibility, of being a possible candidate, of being, Satoshi. Simply put :-P Not that 'thousands' of people are Satoshi, like you misunderstood. - anywho -

Exactly.

The world is a big place. It's likely that in 2008 thousands of people had the right skillset to create Bitcoin, any one of which might have done it.

As long as Satoshi wants to stay hidden, we're not going to find them.

Re: HBO documentary suggests Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is Peter Todd

#110
post #89
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was Satoshi making a correction, he could’ve just edited his original post because bitcointalk allowed for post edits even back then.

Also, at the time petertodd's account was named 'retep' and didn't have any immediately obvious connection to his identity. If there had been a slipup he could have just abandoned the account and certainly not later had it renamed to his legal name!

Excellent point!
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