FameEX Hot Topics | Who Is Peter Todd, the Man HBO Claims to Be Satoshi Nakamoto?

Peter Todd is a well-known figure in the Bitcoin community and continues to be a core contributor to the blockchain. HBO’s documentary *Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery* controversially named Todd as Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Despite the claim, Todd, a 39-year-old Canadian developer, has consistently denied being Nakamoto, emphasizing his role as a longtime Bitcoin core developer, consultant, and developer of various crypto and blockchain software.

Todd publicly refuted the suggestion both before and after the documentary aired. He took to X (formerly Twitter), bluntly stating, “I’m not Satoshi.” When the Bitcoin white paper was published, Todd was only 23. On a 2019 podcast, Todd shared that he had started communicating with early Bitcoin contributors like Hal Finney and Hashcash inventor Adam Back when he was about 15 years old.

Since July 2014, Todd has served as a Bitcoin Core Developer at Coinkite, a Bitcoin-focused platform. He has also been a board adviser at Verisart, a platform for digital collectibles, since 2015. Todd’s earlier career included a three-month stint as a Linux system support and service developer at Starnix in 2001. He later held various short-term roles between 2007 and 2008. The same year the Bitcoin white paper was published, Todd began working as an Electronics Designer at Gedex Inc.

In addition to his work on Bitcoin, Todd has held influential positions in the broader cryptocurrency industry. He became Chief Scientist at Mastercoin, a digital currency and communications protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain, in 2014. He also took on the role of Chief Scientist at Dark Wallet, an open-source Bitcoin wallet, that same year. In 2016, Todd participated in Zcash’s trusted setup ceremony, helping establish cryptographic keys for securing wallets and blockchain protocols. However, he later criticized the process, calling his involvement “pointless” and expressing skepticism about the multiparty computation aspect of the setup.

In 2019, cryptographer Isis Lovecruft accused Todd of sexual assault, which he denied. Todd filed a defamation suit against Lovecruft, which was settled in 2020. The case was dropped without monetary compensation after Lovecruft issued a statement clarifying that Todd had not sexually assaulted her.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this section is for informational purposes only, doesn't represent any investment advice or FameEX's official view.