Peter Todd In Hiding After Being 'Unmasked' As Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

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.'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.