Virtual Currencies | Who invented bitcoin? The documentary promises an answer to the question of eternity

HBO pay channel a new document claims to have revealed the identity of the creator of the virtual currency bitcoin.

A person named Satoshi Nakamoto has been suspected of being the inventor of Bitcoin, but Nakamoto has generally been assumed to be a pseudonym.

Online magazine Politico including producer-director Cullen Hoback will reveal Nakamoto’s identity in an HBO documentary to be released next Wednesday Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery. Hoback is already known for, among other things, his documentaries Q: Into a Stormwhich is about the US conspiracy theory group QAnon.

In Finland, the new documentary will be published on the paid Max streaming service, where HBO’s programs are shown in Finland. They say that the publication time is exactly the same as in the United States: Wednesday, October 9 at three in the morning Finnish time.

It’s Tuesday night in the US at that time.

In the year Bitcoin, created in 2009, was one of the first virtual currencies to really grow big. It is based on distributed blockchain technology around the world.

The number of bitcoins is limited to a maximum of 21 million and they can be “mined” by giving up the computing power of computers.

The fewer bitcoins left to mine, the more computing power is needed to mine each new bitcoin – and the more expensive it is to mine.

Unlike central bank currencies, which can be created by central banks without limit, one of the value of bitcoin is its limited quantity and the fact that the price of mining is constantly increasing.

Another value comes from being able to secretly own bitcoin. Because of that, virtual currency can also be easily used as a means of payment for criminal activity.

The value of all bitcoins mined so far is evaluated to be currently around 1,200 billion dollars, or 1,090 billion euros.

However, the value of bitcoins has fluctuated drastically.

In October 2010, the value of one bitcoin exceeded $0.10. In March 2024, bitcoin was paid for up to $75,830 i.e. about 68,788 euros.

At the time of writing this article, on Friday, October 4, the price of one bitcoin was 55,850 euros.

By Satoshi Nakamoto revealing one’s true identity may have major effects on bitcoin’s valuation, evaluates the online magazine Politico.

The information may reveal whether Satoshi is one of the richest people in the world.

Nakamoto is estimated to personally own around 1.1 million bitcoins. At today’s valuation, that would mean, according to Politico’s calculation, about $66 billion in wealth.

Blomberg’s in the billionaire list it would end up in 23rd place.

Bitcoin Magazine according to “Satoshi era wallets”, about 250 bitcoins have been sold in the past two weeks. Their value is around $15 million at the current exchange rate, Politico calculated.

These wallets are believed to be held by the early owners and developers of bitcoin. In general, however, they have not been directly connected to Satoshi Nakamoto. The vacations in question have been unused since the early days of bitcoin.

In the early stages of bitcoin, the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto advised users of the currency in e-mails and on the Internet, but after 2010 nothing has been heard from him.

In the year 2014 Japanese reporter Leah McGrath Goodman guessed Japanese American Dorian Nakamoto to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but he denied the claim. The identity of the user of the pseudonym was still not established.

In 2016, the Australian Craig Steven Wright claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto, but was unable to prove his claim. Even the court that evaluated the arguments finally concluded that Wright is not Nakamoto.

Over the years, many others have been suspected of being Nakamoto, but the identity of the bitcoin founder has remained a secret so far.