Peter Todd In Hiding After Being 'Unmasked' As Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto (wired.com) 9
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: When Canadian developer Peter Todd found out that a new HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, was set to identify him as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, he was mostly just pissed. "This was clearly going to be a circus," Todd told WIRED in an email. The identity of the person -- or people -- who created Bitcoin has been the subject of speculation since December 2010, when they disappeared from public view. The mystery has proved all the more irresistible for the trove of bitcoin Satoshi is widely believed to have controlled, suspected to be worth many billions of dollars today. When the documentary was released on October 8, Todd joined a long line of alleged Satoshis.
Documentary maker Cullen Hoback, who in a previous film claimed to have identified the individual behind QAnon, laid out his theory to Todd on camera. The confrontation would become the climactic scene of the documentary. But Todd nonetheless claims he didn't see it coming; he alleges he was left with the impression the film was about the history of Bitcoin, not the identity of its creator. Since the documentary aired, Todd has repeatedly and categorically denied that he created Bitcoin: "For the record, I am not Satoshi," he alleges. "I think Cullen made the Satoshi accusation for marketing. He needed a way to get attention for his film."
For his part, Hoback remains confident in his conclusions. The various denials and deflections from Todd, he claims, are part of a grand and layered misdirection. "While of course we can't outright say he is Satoshi, I think that we make a very strong case," says Hoback. Whatever the truth, Todd will now bear the burden of having been unmasked as Satoshi. He has gone into hiding. [...] Todd expects that "continued harassment by crazy people" will become the indefinite status quo. But he says the potential personal safety implications are his chief concern -- and the reason he has gone into hiding. "Obviously, falsely claiming that ordinary people of ordinary wealth are extraordinarily rich exposes them to threats like robbery and kidnapping," says Todd. "Not only is the question dumb, it's dangerous. Satoshi obviously didn't want to be found, for good reasons, and no one should help people trying to find Satoshi." "I think the idea that it puts their life [at risk] is a little overblown," says Hoback. "This person is potentially on track to become the wealthiest on Earth."
"If countries are considering adopting this in their treasuries or making it legal tender, the idea that there's potentially this anonymous figure out there who controls one twentieth of the total supply of digital gold is pretty important."
Documentary maker Cullen Hoback, who in a previous film claimed to have identified the individual behind QAnon, laid out his theory to Todd on camera. The confrontation would become the climactic scene of the documentary. But Todd nonetheless claims he didn't see it coming; he alleges he was left with the impression the film was about the history of Bitcoin, not the identity of its creator. Since the documentary aired, Todd has repeatedly and categorically denied that he created Bitcoin: "For the record, I am not Satoshi," he alleges. "I think Cullen made the Satoshi accusation for marketing. He needed a way to get attention for his film."
For his part, Hoback remains confident in his conclusions. The various denials and deflections from Todd, he claims, are part of a grand and layered misdirection. "While of course we can't outright say he is Satoshi, I think that we make a very strong case," says Hoback. Whatever the truth, Todd will now bear the burden of having been unmasked as Satoshi. He has gone into hiding. [...] Todd expects that "continued harassment by crazy people" will become the indefinite status quo. But he says the potential personal safety implications are his chief concern -- and the reason he has gone into hiding. "Obviously, falsely claiming that ordinary people of ordinary wealth are extraordinarily rich exposes them to threats like robbery and kidnapping," says Todd. "Not only is the question dumb, it's dangerous. Satoshi obviously didn't want to be found, for good reasons, and no one should help people trying to find Satoshi." "I think the idea that it puts their life [at risk] is a little overblown," says Hoback. "This person is potentially on track to become the wealthiest on Earth."
"If countries are considering adopting this in their treasuries or making it legal tender, the idea that there's potentially this anonymous figure out there who controls one twentieth of the total supply of digital gold is pretty important."
There is still no evidence supporting the claim... (Score:2)
This guy is a spammer who's getting spammed. From what I can tell, Peter Todd is just one of thousands of generic crypto spammers on twitter. His job has been generating false metrics for false narratives. The d
Reminds me of Dan Brown and Linus Torvalds (Score:2)
This reminds me of the time Dan Brown (during the SCO era) went about claiming Linus Torvalds hadn't written Linux because Dan Brown couldn't believe that Linus was able to write 10k lines of code over a summer. And this in spite of the fact that everyone he interviewed told him otherwise. The rest of us just look at this from afar and wonder if this guy did it to himself or if it was just some calamity that happened to him, the metaphorical career equivalent of having your house fall off a cliff.
Victim Predator. (Score:2)
There is still no evidence supporting the claim that Peter Todd is Satoshi. The entire narrative around this guy being Satoshi is just marketing for a documentary. There is no new evidence and no one has actually done the work of proving that this guy had anything to do with the founding of bitcoin. This guy is a spammer who's getting spammed. From what I can tell, Peter Todd is just one of thousands of generic crypto spammers on twitter. His job has been generating false metrics for false narratives. The documentary is just another version of that. Scammers like Peter Todd aren't the victims of the internet. They're the predators.
If he’s more the predator, he’s in hiding. From the kind of greed that would murder his children in cold blood without a second thought, for a mere fraction of the wealth he allegedly owns.
If he’s more the victim, he’s in hiding. From the kind of greed that would murder his children in cold blood without a second thought, for a mere fraction of the wealth he allegedly owns.
Regardless of the label you want to use, I sure as shit wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. Not on this p
Re: (Score:2)
Asymmetry begets asymmetry (Score:1)
The fundamental asymmetry of cryptography, the one way function begets another kind of asymmetry. If he were Satoshi, he could easily prove it by transferring coins from a Satoshi wallet. What he can't do is prove he ISN'T Satoshi. What a giant hassle--all of the fame, and probably none of the money. The exact opposite of what a lot of us want.
Hoback needs a head shake (Score:2)
Hoback has gone out to everyone on planet earth and said "hey, see this guy over here, he secretly is in control of hundreds of millions of dollars, and acts like he isn't"
This immediately makes Todd a target for theft, kidnapping, extortion, and innumerable other threats.
Now let's assume for a moment that Todd is not Satoshi.
He is in this situation, and, unlike other celebrities and wealthy individuals, *he has no resources to deal with the problem*.
I smell a lawsuit.
The grand master plan of crypto (Score:1)
The plan for all cryptocurrencies isn't what they want to make you think it is. It's more sinister than the egalitarian image the crypto boys portray for it.
After the 2008 financial meltdown, cryptocurrencies were born out of it, declared to be the means by which people