Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery

Last updated

Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery
Money Electric poster.png
Official poster
Directed by Cullen Hoback
Written byCullen Hoback
Produced by
CinematographyCullen Hoback
Edited by
  • Cullen Hoback
  • Tom Patterson
Music byJohn Morgan Askew
Production
companies
Distributed by HBO
Release date
  • October 8, 2024 (2024-10-08)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery is a 2024 documentary film, directed and produced by Cullen Hoback. It explores the origins of the crypto currency Bitcoin and the identity of its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

Contents

It was released on October 8, 2024, by HBO.

Premise

Explores the origins of the crypto currency Bitcoin and the identity of its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. [1] [2]

Production

Following the completion of Q Into the Storm , Adam McKay asked Cullen Hoback to make a documentary film revolving around Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoback agreed only if they could gain access to suspects, eventually gaining access to Adam Back. [3] Hoback didn't want to bring the project to HBO until he had a working theory. [4]

Reception

The documentary claims that former Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto. [5] [6] Todd denied that he was Nakamoto, stating that it was "ludicrous" and "grasping at straws" and criticized Hoback by saying that it was "ironic that a director who is also known for a documentary on QAnon has resorted to QAnon style coincidence-based conspiracy thinking here too". [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Kleiman</span> American computer investigator

Dave Kleiman was an American computer forensics expert, an author or co-author of multiple books and a frequent speaker at security related events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Back</span> British cryptographer and cypherpunk (born 1970)

Adam Back is a British cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is the CEO of Blockstream, which he co-founded in 2014. He invented Hashcash, which is used in the bitcoin mining process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Finney (computer scientist)</span> Cryptograph and cypherpunk

Harold Thomas Finney II was an American software developer. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games. He later worked for PGP Corporation. He was an early Bitcoin contributor, and received the first Bitcoin transaction from the currency's creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitcoin</span> Decentralized digital currency

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Nodes in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Consensus between nodes is achieved using a computationally intensive process based on proof of work, called mining, that secures the bitcoin blockchain. Mining consumes large quantities of electricity and has been criticized for its environmental impact.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satoshi Nakamoto</span> Pseudonym of the designer and developer of Bitcoin

Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database. Nakamoto was active in the development of bitcoin until December 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptocurrency</span> Digital currency not reliant on a central authority

A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gavin Andresen</span> US-based software developer

Gavin Andresen is a software developer known for his involvement with bitcoin. He is based in Amherst, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of bitcoin</span> Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a digital asset that uses cryptography to control its creation and management rather than relying on central authorities. Originally designed as a medium of exchange, Bitcoin is now primarily regarded as a store of value. The history of bitcoin started with its invention and implementation by Satoshi Nakamoto, who integrated many existing ideas from the cryptography community. Over the course of bitcoin's history, it has undergone rapid growth to become a significant store of value both on- and offline. From the mid-2010s, some businesses began accepting bitcoin in addition to traditional currencies.

Nicholas Szabo is a computer scientist, legal scholar, and cryptographer known for his research in smart contracts and digital currency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nxt</span> Cryptocurrency

NXT is an open source cryptocurrency and payment network launched in 2013 by anonymous software developer BCNext. It uses proof-of-stake to reach consensus for transactions—as such, there is a static money supply. Unlike Bitcoin, there is no mining. NXT was specifically conceived as a flexible platform around build applications and financial services, and serves as basis for ARDR (Ardor), a blockchain-as-a-service multichain platform developed by Jelurida, and IoTeX (cryptocurrency) the current steward of NXT as of 2021. NXT has been covered extensively in the "Call for Evidence" report by ESMA.

Kuno Goda is a pseudonymous Germany-based artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Ver</span> Early promoter of Bitcoin (born 1979)

Roger Keith Ver is an early investor in Bitcoin, Bitcoin-related startups and an early promoter of Bitcoin, and sometimes known as Bitcoin Jesus. He now primarily promotes Bitcoin Cash as Ver sees it as fulfilling the intended and original purpose of the "Bitcoin White Paper", first published in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, in which Nakamoto referred to Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cullen Hoback</span> American filmmaker (born 1981)

Cullen James Hoback is an American film producer and director. He is also an occasional columnist and speaker. His documentary films include Monster Camp (2007), Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013), and What Lies Upstream (2018), as well as the HBO mini-series Q: Into the Storm (2021). His documentary style has been described as non-fiction horror with a comedic tone. He appears on-camera as a central character in Terms and Conditions May Apply and What Lies Upstream.

Wei Dai is a computer engineer known for contributions to cryptography and cryptocurrencies. He developed the Crypto++ cryptographic library, created the b-money cryptocurrency system, and co-proposed the VMAC message authentication algorithm.

Craig Steven Wright is an Australian computer scientist and businessman. He has publicly claimed to be the main part of the team that created bitcoin, and the identity behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. These claims are generally regarded as false by the media and the cryptocurrency community. In March 2024, Mr Justice James Mellor in the British High Court ruled that Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto. In July 2024, a British High Court judge referred Craig Wright to UK prosecutors for alleged perjury related to his claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto. As of 2019, Wright lived in the United Kingdom.

Hyperobject Industries is an American film and television production company founded by director, producer, screenwriter, and comedian Adam McKay in October 2019.

<i>Q Into the Storm</i> Television series

Q: Into the Storm is an American documentary television miniseries directed and produced by Cullen Hoback. It explores the QAnon conspiracy theory and the people involved with it. It consisted of six episodes and premiered on HBO on March 21, 2021. The series received mixed reviews, with some critics praising its insight into the conspiracy theory, and others finding it to be overlong and lacking in analysis of the impacts of QAnon. Some reviewers have criticized the series for not following best practices outlined by extremism researchers for reporting on extremism and conspiracy theories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitcoin Satoshi Vision</span> Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV) is a cryptocurrency that is a hard fork of Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Satoshi Vision was created in November 2018 by a group of individuals led by Craig Steven Wright, who has claimed since 2015 to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the original bitcoin.

Peter Todd is a Canadian cryptographer and software developer who was an early contributor to the development of Bitcoin. Todd has been involved in cryptocurrency since the early 2010s and has worked on blockchain and privacy-focused projects.

References

  1. Carey, Matthew (October 4, 2024). "HBO's 'Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery' Sets Out To Unmask Secretive Creator Of World's Most Valuable Crypto Currency". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  2. "Mystery creator of Bitcoin identified, new HBO documentary claims". POLITICO. October 3, 2024. Archived from the original on October 4, 2024. Retrieved October 5, 2024.
  3. Schindel, Dan (October 9, 2024). ""Cat and Mouse": Cullen Hoback Confronts the Bitcoin Creator Mystery in 'Money Electric'". International Documentary Association . Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  4. Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (October 9, 2024). "Has Bitcoin's Elusive Creator Finally Been Unmasked?". The New Yorker . Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  5. Bambrough, Billy. "Who Is Peter Todd, The Man Named By HBO As Bitcoin's Mystery Creator Satoshi Nakamoto?". Forbes. Retrieved October 8, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Roberts, Jeff John. "HBO doc reveals Bitcoin creator is Peter Todd—that's wrong but 'Money Electric' is still a good watch". Fortune Crypto. Retrieved October 9, 2024.