Polymarket punters believe the HBO documentary will point to the late American cryptographer Len Sassaman as the creator of Bitcoin. Sassaman's wife, Meredith L. Patterson, shared her thoughts with News. Potentially Satoshi.
The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, remains one of the financial world's greatest mysteries.
The debate has just reignited with US network HBO's latest shot at cracking the mystery. Its new documentary, titled “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery,” airs Tuesday. Since the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, various names have floated around as the true creator. But according to a slight majority of bets on Polymarket, the documentary refers to the late American cryptographer Len Sassaman.
Sassaman, who died in 2011, was not Satoshi, his wife, Meredith L. Patterson, said. And she was never approached while making the HBO documentary, she said News“It's all strange to me.”
HBO has not revealed whether the documentary will reveal Satoshi's identity or whether anyone will be identified.
“I wonder if I'm screwing with the prediction market by answering honestly when people ask me questions, but long story short, fuck 'em,” Patterson said. News.
But Sassaman's best friend, Bram Cohen, was more open to putting the possibility on the table.
The real Satoshi?
Ever since Satoshi released a nine-page white paper outlining the cryptocurrency's design 15 years ago, the great mystery surrounding Bitcoin has persisted. As the largest holder of bitcoin — worth nearly $67 billion — Satoshi, whether an individual or a group, ranks among the world's wealthiest.
Sassaman is one of several candidates, including Nick Szabo, Hal Finney and Adam Back, who are believed to be Satoshi.
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said Patterson, a security researcher in Belgium News Her belief that Sassaman was not Satoshi did not change. “He's the best case that Satoshi made some rookie mistakes in the original protocol design, like being able to send to an IP address,” she said. News.
She was referring to early versions of bitcoin, where users could send bitcoin directly to an IP address, facilitating transactions but compromising privacy. Because IP addresses can be easily linked to identities, this feature exposes users to the risk of eavesdropping and tracking. Nakamoto later removed the feature to align bitcoin with its goal of promoting anonymous transactions.
The suggestion that Sassaman could be Satoshi Nakamoto is not new. When similar claims circulate in 2022, Patterson Denied themSassaman asserts that he is “a Mac user.” Early Bitcoin development focused on Linux and Satoshi Had to ask for help Creating a version of MacOS, which is the operating system used by Apple devices such as the MacBook.
But not everyone close to Sassaman dismisses the possibility.
Bram Cohen, founder of popular peer-to-peer protocol BitTorrent and now tokenization project Chia Network, Lived and collaborated closely With Sassaman. In 2021, he Said: “Len constantly posts on the cypherpunks list under a pseudonym,” although he doesn't know the pseudonym. Cypherpunks is the mailing list where Satoshi announced Bitcoin.
It's a little emotional for me to talk about this, but I will say that Len has consistently posted on the Cypherpunks list under an alias, including at least one flesh-out and a chronic handle, and I don't even know what it is. https://t.co/l5t1yGwGcP
— Bram Cohen🌱 (@bramcohen) March 3, 2021
It's a little emotional for me to talk about this, but I will say that Len constantly posts on the Cypherpunks list under a pseudonym, including at least one fleshed-out and long-lived handle, and I don't even know what it is. https://t.co/l5t1yGwGcP
— Bram Cohen🌱 (@bramcohen) March 3, 2021
“Len also tried to get me to publish BitTorrent under a pseudonym, which was something of a reference,” Cohen said. Said At that time.
Cohen, who said News Sassaman said he was his best friend and had no idea what the documentary would uncover. He also said that he has already shared publicly that he is comfortable discussing the topic and does not want to elaborate.
Why Sassaman?
In addition to his aptitude in cryptography and involvement in the same mailing list as Bitcoin's creator, there are several reasons why some have speculated that Sassaman might be Satoshi.
One is the time of Sassaman's death, which coincides with Satoshi's disappearance from public communication. Sent by Satoshi The last email he knew in April 2011, a few months before Sassaman took his own life in July of the same year.
Another intriguing detail fueling speculation: a Reference found In Satoshi's writings An obscure academic conference It happened in 1999 near the Belgian city of Leuven – the same city where Sassaman later earned his PhD. Sassaman Not listed Among his attendees was this conference and its proceedings Opportunity is available Online.
One of his doctoral advisors, Bart Pranell, Said Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws On Monday he found it “highly unlikely that one of his old protégés was the unknown founder of Bitcoin.”
Praneel did not immediately respond News' request for comment, or Sassaman's other doctoral advisor, David Chaum.
Patterson said interest in Sassaman as the original Satoshi continued, but not as much as before.
“At this point, people are actually less nosey, if anything. Where were you on the following dates?' As long as your list of 2009-2011 dates.”
“And people who DM more now, 'your cats Really cute' and, 'Thank you for supporting anonymity and privacy,'” Patterson said.
