The Hunt For The Richest Anon (Premium E265)
Someone invented internet money, and we want to find out who they are. We’re not mad, we just want to talk.
For a decade and a half, the true identity of “Satoshi Nakamoto,” the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper, has been a closely guarded secret. Several major publications have tried to uncover crypto’s founding father, including New Yorker, Vice, Newsweek, New York Times, and Wired. But definitive answers are elusive, despite the fact that Satoshi possibly controls over a million bitcoin worth tens of billions of dollars.
In the HBO Documentary “Money Electric: A Bitcoin Mystery” director Cullen Hoback makes an original case that the person behind Satoshi isn’t any of the usual suspects. Hoback, who also directed the docuseries “Q: Into the Storm,” believes that Satoshi is the Canadian Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd, who was 23 years old at the time of the whitepaper’s publication. Peter Todd, in the film itself and after the film’s release, denies that he is Satoshi.
We chat with Cullen about what inspired him to take on this project, why it even matters who Satoshi is, the evidence that convinced Cullen that he’s “very close to the answer,” and the internet mysteries he plans to tackle in future documentaries.
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Cullen Hoback
Editing by Corey Klotz. Theme by Nick Sena. Additional music by Pontus Berghe. Theme Vocals by THEY/LIVE (https://instagram.com/theyylivve / https://sptfy.com/QrDm). Cover Art by Pedro Correa: (https://pedrocorrea.com)
QAA was known as the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
Comments (35)
The people who own the old wallets are not billionaires. The market for crypto is more shallow than the people hyping it want you to know. That’s why it’s so volatile: it doesn’t take as many trades to lower or raise the price. Even if you had 100,000 bitcoin right now, you could not sell all of them for the current market price. You probably couldn’t sell a hundred, or even half that, without absolutely tanking the price. There are simply not enough buy orders on the books or enough money flowing in to actually cash out at anywhere near to full price. Market capitalization is a poor measurement of bitcoin wealth.
I have only ever used crypto for the purpose of purchasing (redacted), for personal use only mind you. I honestly feel that I got the best possible ROI - cumulatively, I spent $xx,xxx on BTC; not accounting for fees etc (they were never YUGE but ik it all adds up etc etc) I received an equivalent amnt in (redacted)!
Cicada. Yasss.
Exactly I could not resubscribe.
I don’t know that Liv’s comment about this registered with the others, but a DB Cooper documentary would be fantastic.
Didn't they have multiple people who were The Stig over the years, and they came forward? I feel like I remember something about that, but I'm too lazy to look it up lol
I'm the Stig.
As a linguist, it's the "specifically" in Peter's reply to Satoshi that gives it away. Starting a sentence with "specifically" like that is indication that you are clarifying a thought, not that you are correcting someone else's thought.
Cullen has a real gift for getting inside these communities and examining them on their own terms.
The stigs are known, and anyone can look them up.
The crumb I’m baking is the scene when Peter Todd and Adam Back are introduced together and Peter says “Satoshi is Everyone” and then in the car Peter says something about Adam being hesitant to bring Peter along to the company because “he didn’t want Everyone to work there”. He like gives Adam a knowing smile.
Adam's awkward silence during the confrontation scene is a pretty big crumb too. Compare that to how Peter behaved when Cullen was fake accusing Adam. Peter immediately jumped in and encouraged it. But when Cullen confronted Peter, Adam just clammed up.
Great "this is not that" @44minutes
funny how he knows they don't make sense sometimes but still goes with it.
Me the minute he said "money electric": I siiiiiing the body eleeeeeectric! I celebrate me me that's to coooooome! I used to be so mad when that show would come on PBS
I’ll have to watch this docco now but most people I know who have been in the industry for a long time thought Satoshi was Hal Finney. Definitely not Craig Wright. Satoshi being Canadian tracks as Vitalik Buterin (founder of Ethereum) is also Canadian (University of Waterloo special).
John TItor is Joseph Matheny
Just remembered Jake showed feet on HBO
Ya'll need to pay LivAgar more money so there is LivAgar on every episode.
Q into the Storm is how I learned about this podcast. How has it only been 3 years?! Really missed Julian on this episode. Wishing him well!
I mean... Ron knew Cullen was good at finding things out (because he found out about him being Q), so he knew he should ask him.
Jake, you are a light in this dark world
Jake’s poker face strategy works! I have the same problem/gift and it’s so annoying to other players.
Jake admitting that he couldn't beat the puzzles in BOTW/TOTK is the biggest self-report I've ever heard. Those games are for children Jake.. CHILDREN
jake just isn't nintendo brained
Omg guys! Yes! We need a QAA John Titor episode
there was one already: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21404860/
Jake, never stop with your half-baked comparisons, they're at least 30% of the reason I listen
I hope Julian is okay :(
He mentioned he’s taking a break from the pod on Twitter. He knows how much we all miss him.
I find crypto people utterly exhausting
yuh. I want to care about this, it feels like a tiny freckle that could turn into the most virulent cancer, but god it is so boring my brain just skates right off it. Like fuck it, I'll just die, dont make me think about crypto.
So excited for more work from Cullen
liv agar
I thought this was going to be about the absolute batshit insane CEO of Overstock who is verifiably deeply Q-pilled based on the title 😂