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Is Len Sassaman Really Satoshi Nakamoto?
Len Sassaman, a cryptography expert who passed away in 2011, has become a popular guess in the ongoing search for Bitcoin’s creator. People betting on the site Polymarket think he might be revealed as Satoshi Nakamoto in an upcoming HBO documentary.
Over 50% of people on Polymarket have bet on Len Sassaman being revealed as Satoshi Nakamoto in the upcoming HBO documentary.
The Documentary Behind the Hype
On October 3, filmmaker Cullen Hoback announced his new HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery. It aims to uncover the identity of the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s creator. While the trailer doesn’t name anyone, many think it will reveal Sassaman as the man behind Bitcoin. Hoback previously made waves with his HBO series Q: Into the Storm, where he claimed to expose the authors of the QAnon conspiracy.
Len Sassaman: A Cypherpunk Legend
Sassaman was a brilliant cryptographer from Pennsylvania. As a teenager, he moved to San Francisco and got involved in the cypherpunk movement, a group dedicated to privacy and cryptography. He worked on projects like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and GNU Privacy Guard, tools that helped secure digital communications. He and his wife, Meredith Patterson, even started a software company together.
Why Sassaman Might Be Satoshi
The biggest reason people think Sassaman could be Satoshi is timing. In April 2011, Satoshi Nakamoto sent his final email and then vanished. Just two months later, Sassaman sadly passed away. This coincidence has led many to wonder if Sassaman and Nakamoto were the same person.
Sassaman also had a close working relationship with Hal Finney, another top candidate for Nakamoto. Finney was a key figure in Bitcoin’s early days, receiving the first-ever Bitcoin transaction from Nakamoto. Both he and Sassaman were pioneers in remailer technology, which was important to Bitcoin’s creation.
Other Clues Linking Sassaman to Bitcoin
Sassaman worked on solving the Byzantine Fault problem, a major technical challenge in decentralized systems. Nakamoto’s blockchain solved this issue, which was essential for Bitcoin’s success. Additionally, Sassaman was living in Belgium during Bitcoin’s development, and some of Satoshi’s writings use British English phrases and refer to European media.
Points that Refute this Assumption
Despite all the speculation, Sassaman’s widow, Meredith Patterson, has said she doesn’t believe her husband was Satoshi Nakamoto. In a 2021 tweet, she stated that to her knowledge, Sassaman was not the creator of Bitcoin.
