Peter Todd Was ‘Unveiled’ As Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Now He is in hiding

In the week before the release of the documentary, online betting markets had Len Sassaman, a cryptographer who moved in the same internet circles to Satoshi, as the most likely person to be revealed as the creator of Bitcoin. Sassaman committed suicide in 2011 at the age of 31, shortly after Satoshi’s disappearance.

Sassaman’s case was first presented in 2021 by Evan Hatch, the founder of the crypto gaming platform Worlds. Whenever there is speculation about Sassaman’s occasional bubbles, his widow, software developer Meredith Patterson, believes the theory to be unfounded.

“People used to be loud and entitled. “I’ve had people writing to me with a two-page list of dates and places, asking me where I was at that time or place,” said Patterson. “Where did you get off? The stranger approaches the widow and tries to interrogate her. It’s like, fuck off Sargeant Joe Friday. “

When Patterson got wind that the documentary might be about her ex-husband, her first thought was for her parents, who she worried might be targeted as a way to intimidate her into handing over Satoshi’s stash of bitcoins. “I called my father and said: Something strange has happened and it’s not our fault,” he said. A friend who works in law enforcement in Belgium, where Patterson now lives, advised him to take refuge at a local police station if he felt unsafe.

In the end, the problem wasn’t his. Patterson says: “My family and I were relieved that they named him Peter Todd. “But I feel for Peter Todd. In fact, no one should have a stone painted on their back.”

The position of many Bitcoin advocates, including Todd, is that there is nothing to be gained from Satoshi’s hunt. In the absence of its creator, Bitcoin has evolved under an ideological meritocracy, where changes are proposed and decided by public vote, they say. Meanwhile, anyone accused of being Satoshi, whether accurate or otherwise, has a lot to lose.

After the documentary aired, emails began flooding Todd’s inbox. “Until now, [it’s] a bunch of people begging for money,” Todd said. In one exchange seen by WIRED, someone sent twenty-five emails over a two-day period asking Todd to help pay off the loan.