Meet Len Sassaman, Top Contender for Satoshi Nakamoto Identity

As anticipation builds around HBO’s upcoming documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, persistent rumors about the true identity of the Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Directed by Cullen Hoback, known for his investigative work on Q: Into the Storm, the documentary that is scheduled to be released on October 8, 2024, has recently gained much attention and has stimulated the prediction markets. 

Polymarket, a betting platform, has Len Sassaman as the most likely candidate for Satoshi Nakamoto, with 51% of people believing that the film will reveal him as such.

Len Sassaman Leads in Satoshi Nakamoto Identity

Len Sassaman, a cryptographer, and privacy activist has become the frontrunner in the Polymarket’s ongoing prediction market regarding the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Sassaman was an activist of the cypherpunk movement, actively participated in the development of cryptographic tools and programs striving for the protection of privacy.

His association with the ideologies of Bitcoin and his background in cryptography has led to speculations about his possible involvement in the development of the currency.

HBO's new documentary claims it will identify the creator of Bitcoin.

Len Sassaman is the favorite. pic.twitter.com/O729awTPyH

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) October 4, 2024

Sassaman died in 2011 a few years after Nakamoto ceased publishing information to the public about Bitcoin. This time has only fueled the rumors that Sassaman might be the one who is behind the creation. As of this writing on Polymarket, 51% of users think that the documentary will lead to Sassaman, making him the favorite amongst the others.

Will Hal Finney Outdo Len Sassaman?

While Len Sassaman takes the lead in the predictions, other popular figures are also contenders, such as Hal Finney, an early Bitcoin user and the recipient of the first ever Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Finney, who died in 2014, has been associated with the Nakamoto pseudonym for a long time, given his active participation in the early days of Bitcoin and his background in cryptography. As of writing this, the probabilities set by the Polymarket bettors stand at 15%.

In addition to Len Sassaman and Finney, there are some who believe that Nakamoto is a group, not a person. Nearly 38% of bets are on the fact that the documentary will either name more than one person or will not name anyone at all, hinting at the possibility that the true perpetrator could be a group.

Documentary Sparks Debate in Crypto Community

The upcoming documentary has received mixed reviews from the users in the cryptocurrency space. Some of the key personalities have continued to doubt the capacity of the investigation to uncover Nakamoto’s identity. Another Bitcoin supporter, Max Keiser, denied the idea and called the documentary a collection of “Bitcoin nonsense.” 

Likewise, Peter McCormack, a host of a crypto podcast, was not thrilled by the idea of tracking down Bitcoin creator and pointed out that Bitcoin’s creator decided to remain anonymous deliberately and for good reason.

A few of them, however, take the documentary as a chance to promote Bitcoin to the general public. Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3 and an early Bitcoin supporter, thanked for the film’s release as it would present the history of Bitcoin to millions of HBO subscribers, even if the identity claims made in the documentary are false.

Polymarket Predicts No Definite Answer by End of 2024

Although the documentary raised much excitement, the majority of the bettors on Polymarket believe that Nakamoto’s identity will not be revealed this year. Another contract on the platform predicts a probability of 83% that the mystery will be left unsolved by the end of the year 2024. 

Source: Polymarket

This means that even though the documentary might create more theories and debates, those in the crypto space believe that the subject of Satoshi’s identity will always be a topic of interest than knowledge.

The question of who Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is has remained unanswered since the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008. To this day, there is still no clear answer, and this latest documentary from HBO has once again brought new life to one of the oldest debates in the crypto space.