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New HBO Documentary Claims Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Is Len Sassaman
- thih9 2y agoThe documentary may be new but the claim is not. The tweet embedded in the submission itself says: > there was a good write-up of this theory by @evan_worlds in 2021 The detailed writeup from 2021 is easily accessible[1]; Len’s Wikipedia page mentions that theory too[2]. [1]: https://evanhatch.medium.com/len-sassaman-and-satoshi-e483c85c2b10 https://evanhatch.medium.com/len-sassaman-and-satoshi-e483c8... [2]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Sassaman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Sassaman
- dboreham 2y agoThe article doesn't mention this, but presumably analysis of the quite large and available codebases Len is known to have worked on could be done vs the Satoshi code? In the past I've tried to write code that doesn't look like I wrote it, but it's exhausting and probably won't defeat modern AI methods.
- kevinmchugh 2y agoThis article is not great. You can see from a link that somebody else had previously named Sassaman, but there's no discussion of that. No discussion of why Hoback suspects Sassaman (although, probably too early for that). No mention of Hoback pretty convincingly naming Q in QAnon: Into the Storm. Also it uses "cyberpunk" in place of "cypherpunk" at one point
- gomerspiles 2y agoI'd categorize a cypherpunk as a very specific form a cyberpunk, so to me that's normal journalistic form to use both terms at some point in an article.
- adastra22 2y agoCypherpunk and cyberpunk are totally unrelated.
- bitexploder 2y agoThis is not a new theory: https://news.bitcoin.com/the-many-facts-pointing-to-cypherpunk-len-sassaman-being-satoshi-nakamoto/ https://news.bitcoin.com/the-many-facts-pointing-to-cypherpu... There are several good much older articles and posts digging into Sassaman and Finley and the sort of cyberpunk scene from that region of the country. Hard to search it up right now due to article spam about this documentary.
- yuvadam 2y agoThis [1] is the canonical article you're looking for. [1] - https://evanhatch.medium.com/len-sassaman-and-satoshi-e483c85c2b10 https://evanhatch.medium.com/len-sassaman-and-satoshi-e483c8...
- bitexploder 2y agoThanks. If you are reading and got this far, my link was probably a blog spam of the parent’s link and was the actual link I tried to find.
- KomoD 2y ago> due to article spam about this documentary. Such as this one by "Blockhead", all very low quality
- miohtama 2y agoI like the theory of Steve Jobs being Satoshi better: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/apple-bitcoin-manifesto-steve-jobs-satoshi-nakamoto-white-paper-cryptocurrency-2023-4?op=1 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/apple-bi...
- Garvi 2y agoThe guy that died of actually curable cancer because he believed in some alternative nonsense cure? I cannot think of a single other reason why Apple would be "hiding a bitcoin manifesto in Macs [...] fueling theories that Steve Jobs was Satoshi Nakamoto".
- miohtama 2y agoIt was a joke, sir
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoHow dare you use creative, nonlinear play in such a stuffy, formal crowd. Off with your head.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- DrewStern 2y agoLen isn't Satoshi. Len may have been employed by Satoshi at one point though.
- toinewx 2y agothis is a valid comment, there are counterpoints to the Len theory
- DrewStern 2y agoThere's no reason to theorize about anything. Maybe HBO should've hunted through all of the crypto-related US patents filed in the 10-15-20 years before Bitcoin was released. Happy hunting!
- Y_Y 2y agoOh so you know do you? But you're just going to leave a little breadcrumb?
- DrewStern 2y agoAsymmetric information about Bitcoin is worth up to +infinity dollars. Worthwhile to do your research.
- Y_Y 2y agoAh, I see. But I guess you did have fun pretending.
- DrewStern 2y agoHmm? You think it's impossible for someone to go through 10-20 years worth of crypto patents, only to find that one of them contains the exact system architecture that was released as Bitcoin? I guess it's too much work for lazy boys like you :)
- sandworm101 2y agoAnd this will no doubt be good for bitcoin, especially in the long run. Pyramids never fall.
- Bengalilol 2y agoI don't get the "HBO claims BTC creator is Len". I saw that the internet is betting on him, but there's no evidence whatsoever that HBO will claim this. (And yes, I almost think Len's quite the right candidate, cf Evan "Leung" Hatch's article on Medium).
- KomoD 2y agoThey'll probably just list the usual suspects and say it's likely one of them.
- toinewx 2y agoI read that Len was a heavy linux user with no Windows experience. Meanwhile, the first bitcoin implementation is done on Windows for Windows. Some people may remember better this aspect.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dist-epoch 2y agoThat would be exactly the kind of thing to do to obfuscate your identity.
- Waterluvian 2y agoThat seems possible. But this kind of explanation is also indistinguishable from “it’s just part of the conspiracy” type of logical track.
- dstroot 2y agoThat would be done because the user base of windows at the time dwarfed that of Linux. There are other better ways to cover your identity.
- mrkramer 2y agoYou guys are overthinking or just having fun claiming such stuff. Satoshi covered his tracks at communication and distribution layer e.g. using fake name, using TOR, using anon email, anon host etc. I'm almost certain from everything I've seen about Bitcoin over the years that he wasn't a Linux developer who learnt Windows and C++ just to "obfuscate" his identity, he wasn't a non-native English speaker who learnt perfect English just to "obfuscate" his origin. He wasn't a professional cryptographer or even up to date with the latest cryptographic research according to Gavin Andresen[0]. It's most likely that he was indeed a native English speaker and a C++ Windows programmer who happened to be very passionate about digital cash payment solutions. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uWigVKslYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uWigVKslYg
- 2y ago
- blisstonia 2y agoWhatever you think of cryptocurrencies, the mystery is alluring and endlessly fascinating.
- toinewx 2y agodoes the documentary bring new elements?
- aa_is_op 2y agoThey're wrong. It's me
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoIf I then said "it's me," that would be an obvious echo. Or if I instead said "it's not me", that would a contrarian echo. So I'm just going to say: it's probably not me, the last time I checked, but I'd be happy to be wrong.
- imaginationra 2y agoNew HBO Documentary makes unfounded sensational claim to call attention to new mediocre documentary by HBO. *fixed it
- szvsw 2y agoIt’s not really unfounded. Several commenters in this thread have already linked a well-researched piece from a few years ago which (convincingly) compiles all the evidence. So it seems blatantly wrong to say it’s unfounded…
- drexlspivey 2y agoFor what it’s worth, this is the histogram of Satoshi’s bitcointalk post times in GMT https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F5ljuqgaqdil21.png https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F5... Assuming he didn’t post from work (for opsec reasons), this is most consistent with living/working in central/eastern europe/africa. Len Sassaman lived and worked in SV.
- sam_lowry_ 2y agoAnd Belgium
- dboreham 2y ago...and Belgium apparently.
- bitshiftfaced 2y agoThis article shows how his Tweet times match well with Satoshi's posts: https://evanhatch.medium.com/len-sassaman-and-satoshi-e483c85c2b10 https://evanhatch.medium.com/len-sassaman-and-satoshi-e483c8...
- junto 2y agoI always found it interesting to read the initial announcement and follow up emails on the Cryptography Mailing List by Satoshi in 2009. Hal Finney responds relatively quickly to Satoshi’s email, whilst the rest of the mailing list is embroiled in a hash algorithm discussion (TLS/MD5/SHA1/SHA256). Finney goes into some detail suggesting to me that he already knew beforehand what Bitcoin was about and how it could work and change the world. Of course parts of Bitcoin were based on his RPOW paper as well as building on much of the developments in digital cash up to then. Much of the feedback was negative (without it seems testing it) and based on the concept of digital cash in general and POW. Ironically it was also pointed out by another member that Bitcoin’s proof of work would require a lot of energy and have negative effects on the environment if successful. But most of the discussion and pro-side was promoted by both Finney and Satoshi. It almost seems “sock-puppet-esque”, or at a minimum Finney was already invested in the idea. https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2009-January.txt https://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2009-January...
- worstspotgain 2y agoDon't underestimate the possibility of Satoshi being an anti-West nation state. They tend to have brainpower lying around, and have an enormous interest in currency systems they cannot be excluded from (see e.g. Russia's Swift ban.) By retaining the large initial chunk, they keep the origin and rationale secret. They also retain the ability to cherrybomb it as needed. Lastly, if the origin was known, there might be a push to get everyone to agree to invalidate their holdings via a special case.
- stefanos82 2y agoTo me the most appealing hypothesis was this comment https://web.archive.org/web/20240407013631/https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/1bxqnpq/new_theory_on_satoshi_nakamoto/ https://web.archive.org/web/20240407013631/https://www.reddi... The commenter deleted it for whatever reason after a while...
- jonahbenton 2y agoSome very interesting and applicable work happening among Japanese scientists in the late 1990s. "Satoshi" is either dead or Japanese, no one else could keep quiet.
- jeremyjh 2y agoI agree it sounds really compelling that those three names are involved, but as mentioned they could just be influences that motivated that particular pseudonym. It would be hard for three people to keep such a secret.
- Loughla 2y agoIt would also be hard for three people to stay alive and in each other's good graces with the amount of money on the table. There's no way it was multiple people.
- irthomasthomas 2y agoThen we can reasonably conclude that Len Sassaman was NOT Satoshi Nakamoto. BTW, Satoshi Nakamoto translated to English = Central Intelligence. (Family name first in formal Japanese.) Fun coincidence.
- DrewStern 2y agoAnother funny coincidence is the email that Satoshi chose to use in the whitepaper: SatoshiN@gmx.com. Observe that `SatoshiN' can be interpreted as `Sat(4 chars)N', or equivalently: `Sat4N'! Meaning each time you send someone sats, you're actually sending them little satans. :) What an excellent sense of humor Satoshi had.
- 3np 2y ago> Observe that `SatoshiN' can be interpreted as `Sat(4 chars)N' No, i can not observe that.
- astrange 2y agoNakamoto Satoshi is more like "guy with a lot of wisdom and lives inland". This is exactly the picture I'd expect from a guy who read a Gibson novel and gave himself a Japanese name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Sassaman#/media/File:Len_Sassaman_27C3.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Sassaman#/media/File:Len_S...
- ChrisArchitect 2y agoEarlier: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41732985 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41732985
- hi-v-rocknroll 2y agoThere is probably no single "Satoshi" individual, but that was their avatar "API boundary" with which to interface with the rest of the world. It was probably a scheme to financialize fintech (with an emphasis on tech) by 2-4 people who then held large amounts of the value they printed, making them covert decabillionaires able to escape press, kidnapping, pitch schemes, and taxation.