(mysterious music playing)
Jamie Dimon:
Every day, you know,
you have nonstop Bitcoin.
Who cares about Bitcoin?
(click)
(cash register dings)
I could care less
what Bitcoin trades for,
how it trades, why it trades,
who trades it.
If you're stupid enough to buy,
you'll pay the price
for it one day.
(clicking)
YouTuber:
Bitcoin is a f*cking scam.
Donald Trump (on phone):
Bitcoin seems like a scam.
-Magical internet money.
-It has no intrinsic value.
(clicking)
Dimon:
Bitcoin is worthless.
-What makes it valuable?
-Totally BS.
Bitcoin is a dead end.
Brian Kelly:
Bitcoin's dead again!
It's a combination of a bubble,
a Ponzi scheme,
and an economic disaster.
Whatever it's doing,
it's not money.
Whatever Bitcoin is,
it is not money.
-(clicking)
-(cash register dings)
Bitcoin is simply gonna implode
before you know it.
Today, we're having
a funeral for Bitcoin.
Cullen Hoback: Despite all
the doomsday prophecies,
just 15 years after launch,
Bitcoin had become
the 10th most valuable asset
in the world,
outperforming Wall Street
by a massive margin.
One of the biggest
unanswered questions
surrounding Bitcoin
is who invented it.
Andy Court:
When you ask about the creator,
who created this,
we have no idea.
-There's these things
called nerds.
-(studio laughter)
And in 2008,
one of them made up Bitcoin
out of thin air,
using the fake name
Satoshi Nakamoto.
Satoshi Nakamoto.
-Satoshi--
-Nakamoto.
Which, I think,
are the Japanese words
-for Monopoly money.
-(studio laughter)
Hoback:
Satoshi Nakamoto,
the inventor of said
Monopoly money,
was now presumably one of
the richest people on Earth.
speaker:
We are all Satoshi!
(applause, cheering)
Hoback:
This anonymous character had
developed quite a following.
And if all these pundits
kept being wrong,
and Bitcoin kept going up,
then Satoshi could be worth
more than
a trillion dollars.
-With a "T."
-(cash register dings)
And that's because
Satoshi controlled
a sh*t-ton of Bitcoin.
Enough to break the system.
But, many years ago,
Satoshi had disappeared
without spending any of it.
What would happen
if Satoshi just
reemerged one day
to cash in?
They'd be like
king of the world.
Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Who do you think
he really is?
Hoback:
Simply put, Satoshi's identity
has remained
the greatest mystery
of the Internet Age.
No one knows who they are,
even though a lot of people
have tried to figure this out.
YouTuber:
Tonight's plan?
To reveal the identity
of Satoshi Nakamoto,
creator of Bitcoin.
Is he no longer here?
Is he amongst us?
Hoback:
Well, someone probably knew.
Like maybe this guy...
It's too high risk
for Satoshi to come back.
-(ding)
-Hoback: ...who you'll
get to know soon enough.
It's way too high risk.
What's risky about it?
Well, you get
implicated as Satoshi.
And then, every country
in the world
is gonna wanna go after you.
Or people are gonna go
after you to steal it.
But, why does,
like, a m*rder*r
go back to
the scene of the crime?
Satoshi's doing nothing
to pick up his stash.
Hoback:
Yeah, just a million Bitcoin.
And that's why he went
to such great lengths
to conceal his identity.
He thought of everything.
Hoback:
Well, not everything.
(dramatic music playing)
-Cash.
-customer: That should be 1,000.
Hoback:
How often do you pay with it?
customer:
Such nice g*ns!
Hoback:
You probably use your card
for just about everything.
-Denied, denied... approved.
-(studio laughter)
Hoback:
But the cool thing about cash,
you hand over your money,
you get a thing,
and no bank, credit card
company, government agency,
data broker,
social media advertiser
gets to know
about your hobbies.
But, it seemed like
we were maybe on our way
to getting rid
of cash entirely.
As the world transitions
into a cashless society...
speaker:
"We've gone cashless."
No one wants to
carry around cash anymore.
That's already-- Cash is gone.
Hoback:
In fact, there are quite
a few things about the dollar
that were just outdated
because these dudes
-didn't have iPhones.
-(notification chimes)
But, if you were
to start from scratch,
how would you make cash
for the digital age?
It was 2017
when I really started
paying attention to Bitcoin.
And as a filmmaker
who was concerned
with online surveillance...
Everything moved
into ones and zeros,
and ones and zeros can be
tracked and traced.
...the idea that Bitcoin
was supposed to protect your
privacy was pretty appealing.
It was trying to be money
for the internet.
And it had a few features
that the current
financial system just didn't.
-(bell clanging)
-announcer: Fight!
Hoback:
No single person or group
controlled it,
it was basically impossible
to shut down,
-it was scarce.
-(Pikachu panting)
Anyone with an internet
connection could access it.
-You are personally
responsible for it.
-(roars)
And it was super secure
unless you made a mistake.
And it was distributed
through something called
"Bitcoin mining,"
which I tried.
-Even if you don't usually
pay attention to Bitcoin...
-(rummaging)
...you might have
still heard about it.
Miners using powerful computers
to guess a random
string of numbers
and win a Bitcoin reward.
Hoback:
It's how new Bitcoins
enter the system.
This fancy computing rig,
it's like a ticket
to the Bitcoin lottery.
You said 1,600 Watts?
It takes a lot of electricity.
-(rustling)
-And if your mining rig is
the first in the entire world
to find
the computational equivalent
of a golden ticket...
-I got it, Mr. Salt!
Here it is!
-(cheering)
Hoback: ...you win some
freshly minted Bitcoin.
That means that some people
are gonna lose a lot of money.
-Probably.
-Oh yeah.
Hoback:
And every 10 minutes,
you get another shot.
It was the modern gold rush
from the comfort
of your living room.
-But, my miner wasn't so lucky.
-(fan whirring)
So, instead of winning
a down payment for a house,
I just ended up with
a large electricity bill.
-(whirring stops)
-Eh, f*ck.
And the occasional
power outage.
I don't think
this is gonna work. (laughs)
Meaning I'd have to go
get my Bitcoin on an exchange,
kinda like
how you buy stocks.
And like stocks,
people kinda hope
that this digital asset
-is gonna make them rich.
-(cheering)
Which, let's be honest,
was the real draw.
(blasting music)
It was fueled
by an online culture
that was invested
in seeing Bitcoin win.
You're supposed to buy the dip.
Buy Bitcoin.
Hoback:
Designed to pull people away
from a financial system
that seemed like it was stacked
against the average person.
If you win all three rats,
-and they come in one-two-three,
you win everything.
-Oh, my God.
Drew Carey:
But, you have to win some rats.
Hoback:
And Bitcoin provided
this glimmer of hope
that you might get
out of the rat race.
-Look at them go! Oh, man,
you're gonna have a car.
-(crowd cheering)
(rats squeaking)
Hoback:
Asking you to put
your faith in math
instead of the government.
-I don't know what I said, ah!
-We finally beat Medicare.
Hoback:
So, maybe that's why in 2021,
an entire country
adopted Bitcoin.
Because the current
financial system
was also stacked
against them.
-(street chatter)
-(curious music playing)
This is El Salvador,
a Latin American nation
plagued with a history
of g*ng violence,
corruption, and civil w*r.
For more than 20 years,
they had resorted
to using the US dollar
as their official currency,
adding to why
the president's announcement
sent shock waves
around the world.
(crowd cheering)
Nayib Bukele:
Where are the Bitcoiners?
Hoback:
He planned to tie the
country's future to Bitcoin.
For starters, they bought
a bunch of it using...
reporter:
105 million taxpayer dollars.
Hoback:
Then, the country began
accepting Bitcoin
as legal tender.
Suddenly, Bitcoin could be
used alongside the dollar
to pay for things
like breakfast, real estate,
or even taxes.
At least, that was the idea.
We announced that El Salvador
was making Bitcoin legal tender.
(crowd cheering)
We had some protests,
did you see those?
They started with misinformation
to the people,
telling them Bitcoin was bad,
and, you know, you shouldn't
use that currency
because it's invisible.
You cannot see it!
-(laughter)
-Yeah, exactly.
They are all full of bullshit.
Hoback:
The president was betting
that other countries
would want in on the game,
would reject the hegemony
of the US dollar.
Who was behind this effort?
So, we talked with
my friend Samson. Where is he?
-(cheering)
-Samson?
So, this is going
to make El Salvador
the financial center
of the world.
This is the beginning of, uh,
nation-state Bitcoin FOMO.
Do you guys like that?
(crowd cheering)
Hoback:
The guy on stage
with the president
clearly had something
to do with it.
So, I reached out.
-Hello, we're going
on a helicopter.
-speaker: That's right. Hello.
Hoback:
Samson worked for a company
that was trying to expand
Bitcoin's reach
around the globe.
He considered himself a kind of
diplomatic ambassador
for Bitcoin.
And the president
was treating him like one.
-(helicopter whirring)
-Samson was busy
trying to convince
Mexico's third richest man,
known as Uncle Richi,
to use his power plant
to mine Bitcoin.
Because, you know,
who wants to just
be third richest?
(Ricardo Salinas
speaking English)
(Samson Mow
speaking English)
(Salinas speaking)
Hoback: Like myself,
investors also had questions
when it came to Satoshi,
Bitcoin's anonymous creator.
It was the elephant in
the helicopter, so to speak.
-They're gone.
-They're gone.
Yep.
Hoback:
Just before
the launch of Bitcoin,
there was a digital currency
backed by actual gold,
which was reportedly
processing $2 billion
in transactions every year.
E-gold is a currency
that's currently
pretty popularized
with a lot of online users.
Hoback:
They promised that e-gold
would be here this year,
next year,
1,000 years from now.
But, it seems the US government
didn't give a sh*t
what their website said.
They arrested its creator
and shut it down.
The takeaway?
If you're going to create
a digital currency
that will compete
with the US dollar,
you might wanna be
really careful
about letting people
know who you are.
And because Satoshi disappeared
and never cashed out,
I figured maybe their identity
should stay a secret.
-(propeller plane whirring)
-After all,
it's not like they had
some master plan for Bitcoin
to replace the US dollar
and render them
the richest person on Earth.
Right?
(quirky music playing)
Satoshi understood
the game theory of it all.
If Bitcoin was successful,
they'd go after him.
(Hoback speaking)
I don't think he would've
created this gift for the world
just to keep it as
a threat over the future.
He was more thinking
for the good of humanity.
Money is very broken.
It's just a house of cards built
on top of more houses of cards
on more houses of cards.
It's all gonna
come crashing down.
And when it does, that's when
hyperbitcoinization kicks in.
(Hoback speaking)
Samson Mow:
Hyperbitcoinization is just,
you can earn Bitcoin,
spend Bitcoin,
save in Bitcoin,
and the dollar is irrelevant.
Hoback:
There are a handful
of countries
that had printed their way
into hyperinflation,
where money becomes worth less
than the paper it's printed on.
But, that could never happen
to the US dollar.
Could it?
-(tense music playing)
-(crowd chatter)
reporter 1:
Lehman Brothers
is going bankrupt.
reporter 2:
Customers are freaked out,
waiting to see
how low the Dow will go.
Hoback:
Back in 2008,
the world came really close
to figuring out that
our entire economic system
was held together with
chewing gum and duct tape.
reporter:
The President's plan
would allow the Treasury
to buy up to $700 billion
worth of bad loans.
Hoback:
Trust in financial institutions
was hard to find.
I know Americans are concerned
about the adjustments.
-(shutter snapping)
-Hoback: The only business
that seemed to be booming
involved taking pictures
of depressed stockbrokers.
It was during this fiasco
that a mysterious programmer,
calling themselves
Satoshi Nakamoto,
conceived of Bitcoin,
an electronic cash system.
And it was all set in motion
on January 3, 2009...
when the first
Bitcoin block was born.
It's called the Genesis Block.
And a new block is formed
about every 10 minutes,
adding to the record of
all the Bitcoin transactions.
It's called a blockchain.
It's like an indestructible
mathematical safe,
one that keeps track
of who owns what.
And if you want to
unlock your Bitcoin,
it'll require
your secret key,
which is basically
just a fancy password.
Bitcoin now has hundreds
of thousands of blocks.
But, in the Genesis Block,
Satoshi hid a message.
"Chancellor on brink
of second bailout for banks."
Referencing a headline that had
appeared in the London "Times"
that same morning.
It was a subtle
declaration of w*r
against the world's
financial powers,
which had just printed
more than a trillion dollars
to satisfy the recklessness
of the big banks.
In apparent opposition,
Satoshi designed Bitcoin
with a limited supply.
No one could just
print more of it.
Only 21 million total
could ever be mined.
It was programmed so that
the miners would receive
less and less over time.
Until 2140,
when the digital mine
basically runs out,
with Satoshi writing,
"It's very attractive
to the libertarian viewpoint,
"if we can explain it properly.
I'm better with code
than with words though."
You know, for Bitcoiners
who actually might know
who Satoshi is, if they do,
do you think that
they would keep that secret?
(plane whirring)
Well, I would keep the secret.
Adam Back
would keep the secret.
Hoback: Samson's boss
is a cryptographer
named Adam Back
which jumped out at me
because Adam Back
has a pretty important
connection to Satoshi.
He was believed to be
the first person
Satoshi ever reached out to.
People have pushed Adam
to release the Satoshi emails
that Satoshi sent to him.
But, Adam is
a very upstanding guy.
His line of thinking is that
is a private conversation.
So, he's never released
those emails.
I've seen them, and, you know,
they're real.
Hoback:
Adam's company is
called Blockstream.
They were largely behind
this effort in El Salvador.
And now, they were looking
to help
more countries adopt Bitcoin.
Which brings Bitcoin closer
to becoming
the new global standard.
Which, in turn,
could make Satoshi
the richest person on Earth.
It might make you wonder
if Satoshi had any
relationship to Blockstream,
assuming Satoshi
was still alive.
So, I asked Samson if he could
connect me with Adam Back.
-Adam, is your mic on?
Can you hear me?
-Just wait a minute...
Okay, should be good.
(over video call)
I had, you know,
a brief interaction,
email interaction,
with Satoshi in 2008.
And-And, like, what happened?
We don't know.
I mean, is he alive or not?
I don't know. Um...
Did he just choose
a different pseudonym?
Is he-- he still active?
We don't know that either,
I'd say.
Satoshi's wallet,
there's this huge sort of chest
that hasn't been tapped.
It seems almost like a,
you know, a Bible story,
where nobody really knows
quite what happened
because it was
so many years ago.
It's hard to be definitive,
I guess is my point. (laughs)
Hoback (over video call):
So, Adam, are you
planning any trips
to El Salvador anytime soon?
Adam Back:
I haven't really been
traveling that much lately.
Usually in Malta, actually.
We should start with just
an interview with you in Malta.
Um...
If that sounds...
if that sounds good to you.
Okay.
Hoback:
When Adam moved to Malta,
Bitcoin was just
getting started.
It had no value yet.
So, perhaps it's just
a coincidence
that Malta is considered
a tax haven.
So, how'd you end up in Malta?
Adam Back:
Um, so, in 2009,
I was working for a startup.
I was thinking
as a remote worker,
I would try
something adventurous,
find somewhere
interesting to live.
Hoback:
The cryptography behind Bitcoin
is what makes it secure.
It's the "crypto"
in cryptocurrency.
And cryptographers,
they're like the math wizards
who are skilled
at making digital locks.
And to create Bitcoin,
Satoshi referenced ideas
from a few of them.
In particular, something
that Adam Back had invented,
called Hashcash.
And he dreamed this up 12 years
before the creation of Bitcoin.
Were you the first person
that Satoshi reached out to?
I believe so, yeah.
He just sent an email, um,
saying that he's about
to publish, um, a paper...
Hoback:
What would become Satoshi's
famous white paper.
...and wants to know the
correct way to cite Hashcash.
Did you ever release the emails
that you had with Satoshi?
-No.
-Was that to protect privacy
'cause they were private emails
or what was the reason?
Yeah, kind of convention--
I mean, convention,
so-called "netiquette,"
which was a popular term
back then, was that
you would not post somebody's
emails without permission.
Like, nobody knows how to
reach this guy at this point,
so I can't ask, you know?
Hoback:
But, we can look into
the group of people
Satoshi relied on
for inspiration and support.
Namely, the cypherpunks.
-(modem dialing up)
-(dramatic music playing)
Back in the day,
there was a lot of hope
that this thing called
the internet
was going to usher
in an era of newfound freedom.
BBC speaker:
Imagine a world
where every word ever written
could be viewed
instantly in your home
via an information superhighway.
Hoback:
But, only a few predicted
the surveillance hellscape
that lay ahead.
And they could be found on
the Cypherpunk Mailing List.
Every cryptographer
worth their salt was on it.
Cypherpunks are
cryptography activists
who believe in personal
privacy for everybody.
Hoback:
Which meant in a digital world,
you would need some way
to secure your communications.
In the physical world, you had
a good degree of privacy.
In the online realm,
in principle,
you should enjoy
the same rights.
I mean, why should you lose
your rights just because
you're using a different
communication mechanism?
Hoback:
But, the military,
and three-letter agencies,
viewed cryptography
as a tool of w*r.
And they didn't want
unbreakable security
in the hands of the masses.
The unrestrained
public discussion
of cryptographic research
threatened our
national security.
Hoback:
The cypherpunks waged
a massive battle
against the US government.
Back:
I was sitting around
at university and thinking,
man, this is,
this is so ridiculous.
-Hoback: So, Adam,
being part punk...
-(electric guitar sting)
...created an easily wearable
bit of illicit code.
It was just a method
of encryption.
Wear the shirt
while crossing a border,
and it could be considered
weapons trafficking.
-(buzzing)
-Back: A few people
had tattoos with it on
to, like, you know,
to make the argument that,
"Well, can I,
can I leave the country now?
I've got this on my arm,"
kind of thing.
Hoback:
And if you've ever used
a secure messaging app,
well, you have Adam and his
cypherpunk buddies to thank
because they won.
Except one key thing
evaded them.
Back:
Permissionless electronic cash
for the internet.
Hey, this could actually
change the world for the better.
Hoback:
They understood
that in a future
where everything would be
tracked and traced,
you needed untraceable
digital cash.
The holy grail was to find
a solution to this problem.
Hoback:
And we're not talking about
a digital representation
of money
like when you use
a bank or credit card.
-(buzzing)
-We're talking
entirely decentralized,
-totally secure,
fully autonomous currencies
-(whooshing)
spread across the globe that no
one could control or shut down.
It all needed to work without
putting trust in a bank,
a government,
or some big corporation.
I want to tell you
how PayPal stole my money
and my girlfriend.
Hoback:
Over the years,
a few key cypherpunks
took stabs at trying
to make this work.
It was deemed impossible.
But then, somehow, Satoshi
showed up and figured it out.
Back:
You know, you talk to
a lot of technical people,
and they will say of Bitcoin,
"I could have done that."
I say it's actually much harder
than it looks. (laughs)
I'm just trying to imagine,
like,
who would've been
working around the clock
to introduce something
like Bitcoin...?
So, it could be somebody that
was on the cypherpunks list
that nobody knew
the real name of.
Or it could be somebody younger.
-(plucky music playing)
-(foreboding rumble)
Rachel-Rose O'Leary:
I think the question,
"Who was Satoshi?"
always kind of creeps in.
It's hard to avoid
that question.
But, I've been told
it was a secret
which was known,
but that was closely guarded.
That there were
people in Bitcoin
who knew who Satoshi is,
but that they
wouldn't reveal it.
Um, and that maybe Satoshi
was a group of people
that is, like, still active
in Bitcoin today.
Hoback:
Rachel-Rose was
a journalist for CoinDesk.
It's one of the most
popular media outlets
covering the whole
crypto space.
Since leaving CoinDesk,
she'd become
a crypto-anarchist,
-which is about using
subversive technology...
-(laughs)
...to dodge government control.
O'Leary: I was hoping
you might have the time
to interview Amir
while you're here.
He's, uh, one of
the first five developers
to talk with Satoshi.
-Hoback: Where is he
in Switzerland?
-He's downstairs.
-Hoback: Oh, he's here?
Oh, he lives with you!
-(laughing)
Who just happened
to be her boyfriend.
Good to meet you.
Amir Taaki is a British-Iranian
anarchist revolutionary
and one of
the earliest programmers
who worked on Bitcoin
after Satoshi handed it off.
(speaking English)
Hoback:
In terms of the "f*ck the man,
burn down the system"
roots of Bitcoin,
this guy is about
as real as it gets.
Should I call it...
Drug Market Ultra
or Death Market Revive?
These days, the Bitcoiners,
they don't really talk
about me anymore.
I'm no longer "in"
with the Bitcoin crowd.
But, part of it is because,
uh, I went to fight in Syria.
(ominous music playing)
And I was like-- I was out
of crypto for two years.
There's a few photos of him
with Kalashnikov,
and it's like, "Bitcoiner
Fights !sis in Syria."
Amir Taaki:
It was more like three years,
because I was under house arrest
for one year as well.
Hoback:
Oh wow. For what?
Investigation of terrorism.
Hoback:
How did you get
involved with Bitcoin?
I remember when I first
got into Bitcoin in 2010.
(dramatic music playing)
I started to, like,
delve a bit deeper,
started to look at the code.
The code itself was very bad,
didn't seem like the guy
who had wrote it
was a professional developer.
But, it wasn't nothing either.
Conceptually, it was,
it was a leap.
It was interesting.
Hoback: Was Satoshi
communicating with you
in the early days at all?
Just on the forums.
Hoback:
Satoshi created
the Bitcoin Talk forum,
where early enthusiasts
could interact with Satoshi
who wrote 575 total posts.
-(mouse wheel scrolling)
-Their posts usually had
a kind of bland academic style.
Unless something
got under Satoshi's skin.
Which Amir succeeded at.
Taaki:
When I posted
about WikiLeaks...
Hoback:
WikiLeaks, an online collective
known for publishing
state secrets,
had become the target
of the state.
The US government pressured
Visa, MasterCard,
PayPal to block all donations
and freeze their funds.
So, Amir suggested they start
accepting donations in Bitcoin.
"PC World" picked up the story.
Satoshi was afraid this
rapid adoption by WikiLeaks
would attract
the wrong kind of attention
from three-letter agencies.
One of my favorite quotes,
"WikiLeaks has kicked
the hornet's nest,
and the swarm
is headed towards us."
That's one theory
for Satoshi's departure.
Hoback:
The very next day,
that's when Satoshi made
their last post on the forum.
But, Satoshi quietly
continued communication
with a select few people,
primarily with a guy
named Gavin Andresen,
who had been an early
contributor to Bitcoin.
I was kind of looking around
for an interesting
open source software project
to contribute to
and stumbled across Bitcoin,
and then got sucked in.
Satoshi, when he left,
he distributed control
amongst different people
in the community.
Hoback:
Now, Gavin represented
a very different type
of Bitcoiner than Amir.
He wanted to work
with the state, not against it.
He's a normie.
Like a boomer-normie.
Hoback:
But, normalizing Bitcoin
appeared to be Satoshi's goal.
And Gavin looked like he was
from an L.L.Bean catalog.
Every time I tried
to make a change to Bitcoin,
he tried to reject it.
I was like, dude, f*ck off!
Hoback:
On the Bitcoin website,
Satoshi even replaced
their own email with Gavin's,
seemingly rendering him
the spokesperson.
So, I-I took over from
the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.
Hoback:
But, Satoshi became annoyed
with Gavin's PR efforts
rather quickly, writing,
"I wish you wouldn't
keep talking about me
"as a mysterious
shadowy figure.
The press just turns that
into a pirate currency angle."
Then, Gavin did something that
mortified early Bitcoiners,
prompting Satoshi
to permanently cut ties.
My last email to him was
telling him that I had
agreed to go visit
the folks at the CIA.
Taaki:
Gavin Andresen announced
that he was visiting the CIA
to present Bitcoin.
Everybody was
absolutely shocked.
Like, dude,
what are you doing?
And after that,
Satoshi just disappeared.
Nobody heard from him again.
Hoback:
Which was good timing
because Bitcoin was about to
find its first real-use case:
buying drugs.
YouTuber:
Something special
came in the mail
just today from Silk Road.
reporter:
Imagine logging on to
an Amazon-like marketplace,
only instead of
household items and shoes,
you can buy heroin, meth,
and pretty much any other drug
you can think of.
"Many thanks and much love."
Yeah, I'm pretty sure
there are some, uh,
people interested in drugs,
let's say,
who ended up
being relatively wealthy.
Hoback:
While this sent
Bitcoin's value skyrocketing,
its reputation
was easy pickings.
It's untraceable,
and that makes me think
that the real purpose of
Bitcoin is to use it for drugs
or to buy weapons illegally.
Hoback:
Although anarchists like Amir
were loving it,
the emerging generation
of corporate Bitcoiners
wanted to improve its image,
give Bitcoin a friendlier face.
reporter:
Bitcoin Jesus himself
joins us on the phone.
-Roger, great to have you back.
-Roger Ver (on phone):
Hello, everyone.
Thank you for having me again.
Hoback: Roger Ver
put millions of dollars
into some of
the first Bitcoin startups,
eventually rendering him
a billionaire.
But, when Roger first heard
about Bitcoin,
he had what's best described
as a near-religious
experience.
Got so excited about Bitcoin
and didn't sleep for a week
and literally had to be
taken to the hospital,
and they gave me a sedative.
Anybody here
that's sick of the government
inflating the money supply
to pay to k*ll people
all around the world?
Stop using their money!
This was like a dream
come true for me.
The-The thing I've been waiting
almost my entire life
finally arrived,
and so, of course,
I was gonna be busy
promoting that.
Hoback:
Like a prophet,
Roger spread Bitcoin
to anyone he met,
earning him the title
of Bitcoin Jesus.
(speaking Japanese)
I think the world
would just plain work better
and be better for everybody
if there wasn't a ruling class
called the government. Uh...
But, I don't want chaos.
I want order
and things to work smoothly and
people to deal with each other
on a voluntary basis to make
the world a more orderly,
prosperous place for everybody.
(speaking English)
(dramatic music playing)
Hoback:
Nouriel Roubini
is a famous economist,
best known for predicting
the 2008 financial collapse,
earning him the nickname
Dr. Doom.
I'm a pain for them
because I'm public enemy
number one of crypto.
YouTuber:
Nouriel Roubini.
He can either be
the world's biggest
crypto troll
or an idiot.
Hoback:
He's also known for throwing
wild hot tub parties,
where he looks to have
"10 girls to every one guy."
You know, I usually say
that I'm not, uh, "Dr. Doom,"
I'm Dr. Realist.
Honestly, I believe that
crypto, even blockchain,
is the biggest fad
in financial history.
In crypto, somebody steals
your private key,
your money is gone,
your wealth is gone forever,
for good. It disappears.
reporter:
This guy is out
of $225 million.
Bitcoiner:
Seven and a half
thousand bitcoins
on a hard drive
that I'd thrown out.
If somebody steals
my credit card
or gets my bank deposit,
literally, I make a phone call,
and I'm made
100% whole on that.
We have reasons why
we can monitor
financial transactions.
Some government may abuse it,
but there is no civilized
country in the world,
or government,
is gonna allow crypto.
There will be a crackdown,
and it's all gonna disappear.
This is about
undermining the Federal Reserve.
This is about dis-intermediating
the nation-state.
Satoshi, whoever he or she was,
maybe was an idealist.
Maybe he really cared
about protecting people
from excessive abuse
of power and so on.
The ideological origins
of cryptocurrency, of Bitcoin,
of Satoshi himself,
unequivocally anti nation-state
and pro human freedom.
Hoback:
But, they had a problem.
While Satoshi understood
that Bitcoin
wasn't actually anonymous,
just about everyone else...
They didn't realize
it was traceable.
It wasn't until
there was analysis done,
cryptographers looking into it
started to see, actually,
there's links.
There's like a trail
on the blockchain
that we can actually map.
Hoback:
So, if someone who stole
a bunch of Bitcoin
tries to cash out,
you can see that
their Bitcoin wallet
contains the stolen funds.
-(pop, yelling, banging)
-Which is how people doing
ill*gal sh*t got caught.
Today, the FBI
successfully seized
criminal proceeds
from a Bitcoin wallet.
Hoback:
So, Amir gathered
some hackers together
in a sketchy squad
to try and solve
Bitcoin's privacy problem.
They hired a young kid
as their lead programmer.
His name was Peter Todd.
Peter Todd was living with us.
You know,
that's how I got to know him.
We put Peter Todd as the
chief scientist of our project
to put him in opposition
to Gavin Andresen.
You know, we're sitting in
a freezing cold room
because it's an abandoned
building with no heat.
And it's very unique.
But, equally though,
you get people who know
what they're talking about.
You need to give people space to
actually work on these issues.
-(birds chirping)
-(intriguing music playing)
Hoback:
Nine years later,
Peter was still trying
to solve these issues.
Peter Todd:
There's a lot of people who
would like to see cash go away
and like see your ability to
transact anonymously disappear.
I mean, this,
this is a very dangerous thing.
This needs to be treated
as a human rights issue.
Hoback:
How'd you get into caving?
Todd:
There was something called
the Toronto Caving Group.
Didn't really pick the best
place to live for good caves.
Here, you can actually see, uh,
stalactites and stalagmites
sort of forming a column.
So, you know this thing hasn't
moved for probably 30, 40 years.
It's unlikely it'll collapse
on our heads,
but one day, it will. (sighs)
Hoback:
Tell me about your endeavors
to try to make
a digital currency yourself.
Well, you know,
in, like, the mid-2000s,
I was off getting
a fine arts degree.
Started working halftime,
like, 2007, full-time in 2008,
and I finally kinda
finished it in sort of 2009,
and then went on
to start doing physics.
Hoback:
So, have people suspected you
of being Satoshi at any point?
(Peter Todd speaking)
Hoback:
Why do they, uh,
think you're behind it?
(Todd speaking)
Hoback:
It was back in 2001,
when Peter Todd,
a self-taught coder,
first contacted Adam Back.
He was only 15 at the time,
and, like some sort of savant,
he already had a deep
understanding of digital cash.
You almost learned how to code
before you learned how to read.
Yep.
That's wild.
The logic of coding
seemed pretty obvious to me.
Were you just interested in
those issues in high school?
Todd:
I happened to be
a young libertarian,
and it was pretty obvious
to me that
control of money
is a very big problem
for freedom of speech.
We should find a way to
have decentralized banking.
Hoback:
Over the years,
Peter became
an increasingly
controversial figure.
The w*r on cash is the thing
that has to be stopped.
And, frankly, everyone
in this audience,
if you don't use cash
to go pay regularly,
I don't, I don't respect you
as a Bitcoiner.
Like, that's just a fact.
If you're using credit
every single day, f*ck you.
(applause)
Hoback:
Let's just say his takes
weren't always appreciated.
Todd: One day,
Bitcoin will go to zero.
You know,
it will eventually fail,
like everything else.
Peter will always try
to disagree with you.
He's the contrarian
of contrarians.
Todd: You know,
the people who really know...
know how this stuff works,
I think realize
that anyone competent enough
to go do Bitcoin
probably would be competent
enough to not leave any traces.
Hoback:
I mean, Satoshi left
a lot of digital history.
Todd:
Yeah, but digital history
doesn't mean much, you know?
Doesn't necessarily give you
any insight into who they were.
Remember, things that
look like mistakes
can be intentionally
misleading.
If I were Satoshi, I would have
destroyed my ability
to go prove I was Satoshi.
Because then,
you'd never be tempted.
Hoback: But, uh,
you're-you're not Satoshi?
Oh, no, I am Satoshi.
-I'm Satoshi Nakamoto.
-(Hoback laughs)
-Hoback: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We're all Satoshi.
-Todd: Yep.
(intriguing music playing)
-(church bell ringing)
-Todd: It's a monkey, I guess.
-Back: Yep.
-Could be better.
Hoback:
How'd you guys meet?
Online first.
I got more actively interested
in Bitcoin in 2013.
Had the feeling that I don't
understand how this works.
There are people
developing it,
maybe I can find out
where they hang out.
Hoback:
So, still trying to understand
how Bitcoin works,
Adam heads over
to the forum
and, for the first time ever,
makes some posts.
A lot of posts.
Trying to prove his relevance
and his apparent ignorance.
I was a guy
who had a fine arts degree.
Yet, you know,
I still understood the system
better than he did.
Hoback:
So, to clear things up,
Adam started a thread,
"Who is this annoying
Adam Back guy?"
Of course, the Bitcoiners
knew who he was.
I knew who you were.
I knew you invented Hashcash.
And here you pop up,
and you were clueless.
Hoback:
And they just thought
he was, well, pretending.
Best evidence of
him being Satoshi.
-Back: Of not being Satoshi.
-Todd: Being Satoshi.
-Uh--
-Only Satoshi would go
to such great lengths
to go and make sure no one
thought they were Satoshi.
By the way,
everyone's Satoshi.
Yeah, except for me.
I'm not Satoshi. (laughs)
Hoback:
But the most suspicious thing
was the timing of
his appearance on the forums.
The same day Adam registered,
a researcher discovered
a bug in Bitcoin's code.
It enabled them to see
how much Satoshi had mined.
-About a million Bitcoin.
-(whooshing)
Adam seemed concerned, writing,
"Perhaps we're forced
to protect him."
And he had a plan.
And I had a potential way
to improve Bitcoin's privacy...
Hoback:
He wanted to make
Bitcoin truly anonymous.
Which would also mean
Satoshi could spend their stash
without anyone knowing.
Back:
So, I talked to developers
about how do--
how do you achieve this.
Hoback:
And Adam's coming-out party
on the forums
positioned him
so that within a year,
he could start Blockstream.
Because Bitcoin's problems,
they just couldn't be solved
in a squad,
like what Peter and Amir
had attempted a year earlier.
It required serious funding.
Back:
It's a big undertaking.
So, it'd need a company,
it needs to employ
lots of people.
Hoback:
Blockstream could do what
Satoshi couldn't.
Raise money, build a huge team,
and solve Bitcoin's
technical problems.
You could say Blockstream is
a kind of corporate Satoshi?
-Mm-hmm.
-Like, how did he become
the head of the company
that became
the stewards of Bitcoin?
Uh, it's a good question.
He kind of, uh, shows up
and very quickly
becomes integrated
into the Bitcoin community.
Hoback:
Where he knew to pursue
the right kind of talent.
So, Adam,
when you started Blockstream,
did you try
to get Peter on board?
-Well, kinda intentionally not.
-Yeah.
We talked about saying it would
actually be much better
-if I didn't work
for Blockstream.
-Back: Mm-hmm.
'Cause it's better
if Blockstream
doesn't have everyone.
Hoback:
While Peter Todd decided
not to work at Blockstream,
his friend Greg Maxwell did.
We're building infrastructure
that Bitcoin needs
going forward.
Hoback:
In fact, Greg founded
the company with Adam.
O'Leary:
People like Greg Maxwell,
they were considered
the, the thought leaders.
Hoback:
Greg doesn't do interviews
anymore, right?
Getting him to come
out of his, uh, home is, uh...
Hoback:
...seemingly off the table,
with Greg writing to me,
"I'm pretty exhausted
from years of harassment
"driven by conspiracy theories.
I feel like I've given enough."
So, do you think
they were working with Satoshi?
It was very mysterious.
Uh, th-there is the question
of whether Adam Back is Satoshi.
Hoback:
There's been a lot of debate
over which of these cypherpunks
is most likely to be Satoshi.
Hal Finney received
the first Bitcoin transaction,
but he died of Lou Gehrig's
disease in 2014.
Well, sort of.
His head is frozen.
So, if he's Satoshi,
you'd probably have
to solve cryonics
to get the key
that's stored in his head.
But, there were some problems
with this theory.
Satoshi's code bears zero
resemblance to Hal Finney's.
-(shutter snaps)
-And Hal was photographed
in a 10-mile race,
while Satoshi was
actively emailing with someone.
In 2015, The New York Times
pointed to Nick Szabo,
a reclusive cypherpunk
who envisioned something
pretty similar to Bitcoin.
Would you ever be
open to, to doing,
like, an interview on camera
about all of that?
The key piece of evidence,
he changed the date
of a blog entry,
presumably so it would seem
like he came up
with this idea after Bitcoin.
Thing is, he'd actually
announced months earlier
that he'd be doing reruns
of his blog favorite entries,
making this piece of evidence
look a lot less suspicious.
(speaking English)
-(Hoback laughs)
-(room chatter)
Hoback:
There's Wei Dai,
who is a famous cryptographer.
He claims there are no real
photos of him on the internet.
But, he did speculate
that Satoshi
must have been someone
with energy and time
that isn't obligated to publish
papers under their real name.
There's Len Sassaman,
David Chaum, Dorian Nakamoto...
-(names overlapping,
echoing over each other)
-(mouse clicking)
The list goes on and on.
I am Satoshi!
Okay!
The biggest critic of crypto
is Satoshi himself.
Hoback:
And while we could pick apart
each of these theories,
the evidence pointing
in Adam's direction
was a lot harder
to poke holes in.
So, we're gonna focus on that.
Though for a long time,
people hadn't really
considered him a suspect.
And that's because
he wasn't just cited
in the white paper.
He was the only person called
out by name in the body of it.
But, was Satoshi simply
hiding in plain sight?
-(arrow slams)
-Back: I've never done it
before, so...
-Okay. It's 99%.
-(laughs) It's just one--
Just this one hand, right?
Hoback:
You see, like Satoshi,
he writes in
a typically measured style
with similar spelling choices.
Now, Adam also claims that
he didn't really get involved
until four years
after the launch of Bitcoin.
In 2013, I felt like, you know,
the embarrassing late guy,
given that I should've known
better at the beginning, right?
(laughs) And, uh...
Hoback:
Thing is,
back in 2011,
you can see he was
on a mailing list,
openly defending Bitcoin,
and sharing complex insights
into Bitcoin's expansion.
Weirder still, in 2012,
he began making revisions
to Bitcoin's Wikipedia page,
eventually restoring
the section about Satoshi...
Just, like, tried to right
a slight historical wrong there.
-Hoback: ...even adding
possible suspects.
-(shoots)
Just leaving out his own name.
(shoots arrow)
How much is
Satoshi worth these days?
I don't know. Um, I mean,
even the number of coins
that he might have
is a bit speculative.
If they had a million coins,
whoever Satoshi is
would technically have
a huge amount of influence
if it becomes the,
-the new global currency, right?
-Back: Right.
Hoback:
That would mean that
whoever Satoshi is
might be one of the most
powerful people in the world.
Even the slightest suggestion
that Satoshi had access
to their coins
had the power
to tumble markets.
Market fear has begun
to overtake rationality.
Hoback: But selling
a million coins all at once?
If these coins were dumped...
Hoback:
That could k*ll Bitcoin.
-(zaps)
-And as the stakes grew,
it kinda mattered
if Satoshi still had access.
If you were Satoshi,
where would you store
your private key
to the, uh, trove?
I don't know. That's a lot
of bitcoins, isn't it?
(Hoback laughs)
Hoback:
What do you think Satoshi
might've done with that key?
I don't know. I mean,
some people speculate that
he might've deleted them.
But, of course, we don't know--
we wouldn't know, right?
Hoback:
But, we could've known.
You see, there's a way
to verifiably destroy
your bitcoins.
It's called burning the coins,
and it's done in a public way
for all to see...
-(bursting)
-...on the blockchain.
Bitcoiner:
You could burn all the coins
because that would remove the
small uncertainty that exists.
-Hoback: But,
Satoshi didn't do this.
-(whooshing)
Meaning they very well
might still have access.
If they kept that stuff,
there'd be a lot of temptation
to spend some of it.
Hoback:
So, Satoshi had to weigh
the temptation
of becoming
the richest person on Earth
against the possibility
that it would
derail their invention.
Do you think it'll ever
be known who Satoshi is?
Back:
I don't think so, no.
I mean, just-just because
all of the people
that have been identified
have various reasons,
believable reasons,
why it's probably not them.
And you know
what the list is, right?
-It's been circulated
a million times.
-Right. Right.
Hoback:
Wei Dai is on the list.
Um, Nick Szabo is on the list.
Hal Finney.
You're on the list.
And then,
maybe mysterious...
mysterious other person.
-Right.
-Um...
Well, I thought
you might think I'm Satoshi,
and I don't want that
to be on the record, really.
(both laugh)
-I mean, you're on
the list of suspects, right?
-Yeah, yeah,
but, uh, you know,
I was interested for you,
personally, to understand
that really-really,
I'm not, you know? Yeah.
-(breeze blowing)
-(birds chirping)
Hoback:
It seemed to me that,
at a minimum,
Adam was more involved
than he was letting on.
(intriguing music playing)
Meanwhile, Blockstream's
Bitcoin ambassador
was trying to make Bitcoin
the new global standard.
Mow:
This is a pivotal
time with Bitcoin,
and we have to push
the advantage we have now.
I have an in in Korea,
but if you wanna do Vietnam...
Michelle Phan:
Wow... Yeah!
-Fist bump... I'm down.
-Are you down? Okay!
Alright, I'm down, too.
Hoback:
Samson's young new ally
just happened to be
one of YouTube's
biggest beauty influencers.
Now, she was advising
on more than just makeup.
With Bitcoin,
you can buy it in smaller units.
There's 100 million satoshis
in one bitcoin.
Nothing ever infinitely goes up,
but Bitcoin will.
I feel like California
should become its own country
and adopt Bitcoin.
In my humble opinion.
It's like, what, the fourth
largest GDP right, in the world?
Yeah.
Hoback:
They were headed
to a political function
for Andrew Yang...
Andrew Yang:
I'm Andrew Yang,
and I'm running for president
as a Democrat in 2020.
Hoback:
...who kinda brought the idea
of universal basic income
into the mainstream.
-So, we gotta talk to Andrew
about UBI. Your UBI!
-Yeah.
Yes,
the universal Bitcoin income.
Not universal basic income.
We don't want basic sh*t.
-We want Bitcoin.
-Yeah, we're not basic.
Thank you. Okay, here we are.
Hoback:
So, these two,
they're what's known as
Bitcoin maximalists,
or Maxi for short.
I'm a proud
Bitcoin Maxi now.
I'm toxic as f*ck.
-(thunder cracks)
-Hoback: Does their profile pic
have lasers
coming out of their eyes?
Usually means they're a Maxi.
It was a system
of monetary belief.
Welcome to the new religion.
Hoback:
Faith that Bitcoin could fix
all the problems in the world.
Bitcoin fixes everything!
Hoback:
And that the US dollar
was on its way out.
Okay, here's a $10 bill.
-This is garbage.
This is garbage.
-(ripping)
Hoback:
Which could be
pretty f*cking annoying.
But, ultimately, their goal
was to orange pill the world.
Phan: We're gonna try
and orange pill him.
Yang:
Oh my gosh! Hey, Michelle!
We have a real life
Asian-American supermodel
and activist.
Hoback:
Their tactics could
be pretty shameless.
-Andrew,
nice to meet you.
-Oh, nice to meet you, too.
This guy's changing the world.
I want you to meet him.
I think he's really important
for you to talk to.
Oh, no, I'm super pumped
about this. See this magic?
You see this magic in real time?
You wanna say a couple words?
Bitcoin is the most
important crypto out there.
Yang: Holy cow!
-Let's talk, uh, more deeply.
-Mow: Yeah!
What's your info? What's
the best way to be in touch?
Many of these utopian movements
start by a bunch of idealists.
But then, they're captured
by a bunch of greedy people,
they become a cult,
and the people and the system
becomes like a religion.
They become fanatic.
And then, all these utopias,
in due time,
they just disappear
in the dustbin of history.
And that's what's
gonna happen with crypto.
Hoback:
Samson thought he could use
his own right hand.
Someone with connections.
Enter the Prince of Serbia.
Prince Philip:
2020, that's when
it really clicked.
There are synergies
between Bitcoin and monarchies.
-I'm a Maxi now.
-(laughter, indistinct chatter)
That's my great-grandfather.
This is my great-
great-grandfather.
Hoback:
I see. When do you get
your painting in here?
-Who knows?
-(laughter)
He has the perfect skill set
to contact, uh,
diplomats, presidents.
There's a lot of
big family network
to-to-to work through.
That opens a lot of doors.
Hoback:
Not that long ago,
Montenegro and Serbia used
to be part of the same country.
And Prince Philip's family
still had a lot of influence.
Prince Philip:
Prime Minister Spaji.
In terms of where he's at
with Bitcoin,
could be the start of
a good relationship with him
to get things moving
in this country.
I'm a big fan of Bitcoin,
obviously,
and of the technology
that Bitcoin brought.
Politically,
it's, it's a difficult sell.
You have to think about
all kinds of risks.
I think the government
shouldn't invest in Bitcoin.
If you're risk-averse,
you think the government
should not hold it.
That's fine.
But, in the event
that fiat currencies collapse,
everyone will rush into Bitcoin.
So, what we're trying to do
is get parallel systems
in place.
Dollars, Bitcoin, pesos,
Bitcoin, yen, Bitcoin.
We don't have our own currency.
We're using euros without
being able to print euros.
And that's not fair.
You know, that's not cool.
Maybe something to consider
is adopting Bitcoin
as simply money.
You don't need to tax anybody.
-You can just mine Bitcoin...
-Prince Philip: Yes.
...and that will
fund everything.
The electricity
is relatively cheap.
It's usually
the smaller countries
that are more agile
and willing to embrace change
'cause they're looking
for some advantage.
I think it's a good idea.
You can really be a beacon
in Europe right now.
Concretely, how do we do this?
Mow: We had a really good talk
about Bitcoin adoption
and what they can do.
And they also, like Costa Rica,
have a lot of hydropower,
-so we're making progress
everywhere.
-(breaking up phone reply)
Hoback:
How did something with such
anarchistic roots
end up being
mined by countries?
narrator 1:
It all started in 1849.
There was gold in California.
Hoback:
In the beginning,
if you wanted to do
Bitcoin mining,
your home computer
was good enough.
Which is how Satoshi racked up
-what appears to be
over a million Bitcoin.
-(swirling)
But, once Bitcoin had value...
narrator 1:
Within a short time,
all had caught the fever
that only gold would quench.
Hoback:
...people created
specialized mining rigs
to increase
their chances of winning.
narrator 1:
Which made the job move faster.
Hoback:
The more people who compete,
the harder it gets.
narrator 1:
As the gold became
more difficult to find...
Hoback:
Mining industrialized,
becoming an arms race.
narrator 2:
It was buckets,
after buckets, after buckets.
Hoback:
Looking for the cheapest
energy, the fastest miners,
in search of
the next golden ticket.
reporter:
Bitcoin mines generated
about $70,000 a day.
Hoback:
And if you can't keep up,
it stops being profitable.
narrator 1:
As the gold gave out,
people moved away.
Hoback:
Until most of the players
left in the game
are basically billionaires
who own their own power plants,
or countries
who own the power grid.
It's the grand unveiling.
I think there's
a couple hundred in here.
It's a 40-foot container.
Hoback:
Requiring about
0.5% of all the energy.
And it requires increasing
amounts of energy consumption
as more miners compete.
Hoback:
And while you might think
that's pretty terrible...
-(fire crackling)
-...compounding
a climate catastrophe,
if you've ever heard
of petrodollars,
that's because Nixon
ditched the gold standard
and intertwined the US dollar
with the oil trade.
The effect of this action,
in other words,
will be to stabilize
the dollar.
Hoback:
Which helped solidify
the dollar's status
as the global reserve currency,
but kinda kept us
dependent on oil.
So, maybe it's just
the nature of money
that it's based on things
that people value.
Which is to say, a currency
derived from electricity
might pose a real threat
to the dollar
if it gained in popularity.
Assuming it actually worked.
You see, Bitcoin's original
design had a fatal flaw.
reporter 1:
Well, computer giant Dell
announcing today
-it will accept Bitcoin.
-reporter 2: Sacramento Kings
to accept Bitcoin.
Overstock is now
accepting Bitcoin.
Hoback:
If too many people
started using Bitcoin,
it would stop working.
And that's because those blocks
that make up Bitcoin's
record keeping system,
-they just can't hold
very much information.
-(whooshing)
They're small.
And you have to wait
10 minutes before
another block forms.
So, when Bitcoin got popular,
your transaction would be stuck
in line for hours,
sometimes days.
And since money needs
to work immediately,
this was a disaster.
Transaction times
are incredibly high.
There's a lot of people
questioning long-term
sustainability.
Stripe is getting out
of the Bitcoin business.
Hoback:
So Gavin, who was still kind of
steering the Bitcoin ship,
announced...
We'll definitely
need to increase
the maximum block size.
-Hoback: In other words,
make each block bigger.
-(whirs)
More room for all
the transactions.
But, not everyone agreed.
This is obviously a bad idea.
Oh, this is all bullshit.
These guys are bringing
about the doom of Bitcoin.
Hoback:
A disagreement which resulted
in a massive nerd fight,
known as the Blocksize w*r.
So, why were they being
so apocalyptic
about just adding more space
to each Bitcoin block?
The nerds had
some good reasons.
For instance,
if you could change something
as fundamental
as the block size,
could you also change
the total supply
from 21 million to 100?
People might lose their faith
in what makes Bitcoin Bitcoin.
Although, to make
a change like this,
you have to get pretty much
everyone on board.
-Otherwise,
the community will split.
-(horn blaring)
So, instead of
changing Bitcoin,
the Small Blockers had
a complex technical solution,
but it would take years.
Meanwhile,
the Big Blockers wanted
Bitcoin to work now,
not in some theoretical future.
Ver:
Governments move slowly.
We need to move quickly
and make this cash
for the entire world
before the politicians
even know what happened
and they have time to react
via bigger blocks.
Hoback:
The fight became vicious,
with each side
accusing the other of
trying to destroy Bitcoin.
Ver:
I'm not exaggerating, this
is a life and death matter.
More babies are dying
in countries around the world
because they have
less economic freedom.
Mow:
He's not Bitcoin Jesus.
He's Bitcoin Judas.
(buzzer blares)
He's the one that's
trying to k*ll Bitcoin.
Hoback:
With Bitcoin
essentially divided
between the church
of small blocks
and the church
and big blocks,
you might be wondering
where did Satoshi
fall in all of this?
I think Satoshi
handed the keys off to Gavin
because he viewed Gavin
as a responsible steward
of the future
of the project.
But, that doesn't mean
you're the leader.
That just means you're the guy
who answers questions.
Hoback:
Well, it seemed Satoshi
was about to make
their views known.
After years of silence,
Satoshi sends an email out
to the mailing list
to share their concerns.
It's from the same address
Satoshi used back in 2008.
The one to distribute
the white paper.
His words were clear, harsh...
and firmly against
Roger, Gavin,
and the big corporations.
There's a debate
around whether or not
that was, like, legitimate.
But, whoever had access
to Satoshi's email
was somewhat aligned
with Blockstream,
with their angle
on the scaling debate.
Hoback:
While some question
the email's authenticity,
it placed Satoshi squarely
on Blockstream's side.
-(curious music playing)
-(blade slicing)
And then, as if sent
from digital heaven,
Satoshi appeared
in the flesh.
He was apparently
an Australian fellow...
named Craig Wright.
So, you're gonna show me
that Satoshi Nakamoto is you?
Yes.
I do think Craig is Satoshi.
I met with him in London.
Uh, he fits the kind of person
that I was interacting
with way back in 2010,
and he provided
some cryptographic proof.
Hoback:
Miraculously, this Satoshi
was on Gavin and Roger's side.
At first, it seemed
wonderful because, oh,
Satoshi's back,
and he's a Big Blocker.
Raise the block size.
Very quickly, people figured out
this is obviously bullshit.
Hoback:
It seems like
he'd fake the evidence
by backdating
his cryptographic proof.
Craig Wright is
incredibly convincing.
For me, he's proved it
beyond a reasonable doubt.
But, if you dig
deep enough, long enough,
the inconsistencies will emerge.
Yeah, I-I have to be careful
about talking about that topic
because he, uh, sued me
at some point.
-Hoback: Who did?
-Craig.
-He sued--
-Hoback: For what?
For libel.
He sued a lot of people.
Hoback:
(laughs) Well, that's
something to look forward to.
(slow music playing)
To me, Craig Wright was
the death blow in the w*r.
"Death blow" is a strong word,
but something close to that.
Thanks, Craig. (scoffs)
Todd:
We got lucky.
The Blocksize w*r
went the right way.
Hoback:
The Blocksize w*r was over,
and the Small Blockers had won.
-(laughs) The victor
writes history.
-Mow: (laughs) Yeah.
O'Leary:
They established themselves as
the ideological
authority on Bitcoin.
Hoback:
But, had Satoshi
simply regained control?
It took the Small Blockers
almost a decade
to make their plan work.
None of that Starbucks bullshit!
Hoback:
You could buy
coffee with Bitcoin,
which is why countries
were now able to adopt it.
But, it required the support
of companies like Blockstream.
-Cheers. You're not
supposed to cheers coffee.
-(cups clink)
Hoback:
And these companies
would take a small cut
out of every transaction.
Meaning it ain't...
Back:
Permissionless electronic cash
for the internet.
Hoback:
Which fueled theories that
they had ulterior motives.
It's been delayed by
at least a decade, if not more,
because of this, uh, block size
limit that was imposed,
and probably covert government
agents helping it along.
-Hoback: Yeah, so I guess
we'll just go--
-Peter Todd. (laughs)
Sorry, what was that?
I said Peter Todd,
for one. (laughs)
Hoback:
Wait. Roger thought Peter Todd
was working for the government?
(tense music playing)
Hoback:
What-What indication
did you have
that he was,
perhaps, collaborating
with the government?
The things he was advocating
that should happen with Bitcoin
were counterproductive
to Bitcoin being usable
as cash and usable as money.
(typing)
Hoback:
Prior to 2013,
pretty much all of
Peter Todd's history
appears to be wiped
from the internet.
I finally found
his personal website.
2001...
Where, in high school,
when he was communicating
with the cypherpunks,
he joked that in the event
he becomes an evil dictator
who takes over the world,
he was screwed up
from childhood.
His father was an economist,
and his mother taught him
about encryption.
And while Peter Todd
might have worked for...
A company manufacturing
gyroscopes
for drones in the military.
Hoback:
...being in the CIA obviously
wasn't on his resume.
Or whatever the f*ck Canada's
intelligence agency's called.
But, Roger brought up
something suspicious.
Later, somebody leaked
this email exchange from him,
and that guy openly claimed
that he was working
for the US government.
Anybody who looks on Google
and searches,
"Peter Todd leaked emails"
will see...
Hoback: Back in 2013,
there was this email thread
that had been leaked
between Peter Todd
and a guy who called
himself John Dillon.
Taaki:
And in the emails,
Peter Todd was conspiring
with this other guy
who was affiliated
with state actors.
Hoback:
With John Dillon claiming,
"My day job
involves intelligence,
and I'm in a relatively
high position."
Maybe Amir just wasn't
aware of this at the time.
If it looks like something's
coming into existence
that could replace the US dollar
as the world's reserve currency,
the US government and
its three-letter agencies
absolutely, without any doubt,
will do whatever they can,
including secretly and covertly
disrupting projects
like Bitcoin.
Hoback:
If the government
wanted to undermine Bitcoin,
or try to get close to Satoshi,
how might they do it?
A guy that openly said
that he was working
for a three-letter agency
literally paid Peter Todd
to implement what's
called replace-by-fee.
Hoback:
John Dillon offered
a strangely small $500 reward
for anyone who could
design replace-by-fee.
It was essentially
a bidding service.
If you pay more, you can
send your Bitcoin faster.
Replace-by-fee was an attempt
to fix one of Bitcoin's
design problems.
Something that Satoshi
had speculated on
just before disappearing
from the forums.
And Satoshi knew it would be
a fair amount of work.
So, why would Peter Todd
do it for 500 bucks?
On the forums, John Dillon
publicly prodded Peter Todd to,
"Write some code for once."
And so, in 2013,
about three years after
Satoshi's disappearance,
Peter Todd solves
this design problem.
I played that little part,
creating this
replace-by-fee patch.
Hoback:
Which the Big Blockers
thought was a terrible idea
because it could result
in some really high fees
just to send some Bitcoin.
Ver:
Peter Todd, whether
he's a government agent,
he's absolutely
a super smart guy.
He's gotta be
the smartest guy in the room.
He always wants
to make sure he can prove
that he's the smartest guy
in the room.
So, is anyone
in this audience
working for government
right now?
(scattered laughter)
Because if you are,
I guess I'm one of the people
handling negotiation
with government.
Hoback:
Even the email exchange
made Peter Todd
look pretty damn smart.
But after the leak,
John Dillon
disappeared for good.
As far as I know, Peter Todd
never denied any of that.
I think that's pretty much
accepted as fact at this point.
Hoback:
I found myself wondering
if maybe he did work for
the government in some way.
So, how close were you with
Blockstream back in the day?
-Todd: Me?
-Hoback: Yeah.
Uh, mostly,
I went to their office,
uh, drink all their Red Bull.
I'd go and
eat all their snacks.
Yeah, yeah. I mean,
they'd never pay me,
but I might as well get paid
in all other possible ways.
Hoback:
So, he was just
strategically close to Adam.
Well, Adam seems
to respect you a lot.
Meh, I mean I guess
I have reasonable ideas.
It's not that hard.
Adam respects plenty of people.
-I think he thinks of
you like a son.
-A son.
Yeah. I mean,
I first talked to him
-when I was, like, a teenager.
-(Mow laughs)
It's probably part of it.
Hoback:
They've got a lot of
conspiracies about you.
Todd:
Well, they should.
Don't you know I, like,
worked for the CIA, NSA,
and also KGB at the same time?
Hoback:
Well, they like to point at that
email dump that happened.
Oh, yeah, yeah,
the John Dillon bullshit.
-Hoback: Did you release that?
-I have no idea
who that guy is.
-Hoback: Really?
-I mean, you know, people go
and email you all the time,
like, telling you
all kinds of bullshit.
Hoback:
Looked like you were trying
to solve a lot of problems
-with him at the time, and, uh--
-No, I mean--
Hoback:
And there was, like, concerns
that, I guess that
John Dillon guy
was like under-- was like,
an agent or something and then--
The guy explicitly
claimed he was, uh,
you know, working for
the US government intelligence.
But, you know,
is that true or not?
Who the f*ck knows? Like,
the problem with all this stuff
is people play all kinds
of crazy games.
Could be a 4chan troll.
Like, that's just
the reality of it.
You just don't know.
Hoback:
In that email chain,
there was one thing that
the John Dillon guy said,
where he was like,
"If the US government
wanted to f*ck up Bitcoin,
-here's the strategy
that they might take."
-Todd: Well, yeah...
If you wanted
to go screw with Bitcoin,
one of the things you do is try
to convince the coding community
to go splinter up into, like,
five different efforts.
Hoback:
Which is what happened
after the Blocksize w*r.
Because if you couldn't
change Bitcoin,
why not just
make your own coin?
Pump it up,
you've got to pump it up
Don't you know, pump it up
You've got to pump it up
Hoback:
Soon, dozens, then hundreds,
then thousands of
alternate coins revved up,
each coin proclaiming to offer
something different
from Bitcoin.
You could even bank
while you wank.
newscaster:
It's unbelievable
how much this has taken off.
Hoback:
The crypto industry exploded.
-(elongated) Bitconne...ct!
-(crowd cheering)
Hoback:
Like the stock market,
you could bet
that these alt coins
would boom in value,
and many did,
with some coins 10-X-ing
or 100-X-ing in value.
Wall Street now
had competition.
You heard it here first!
Bitcoin is going to zero!
Hoback:
Virtually unregulated
competition.
Dogecoin to the moon!
(rapid beeping)
Hoback:
Which couldn't last.
(dramatic opera singing)
And now, the mark--
Oh! Ow! It went to zero!
Hoback:
By the end of the year,
the bubble burst louder
-than the stock market
did in the early 2000s.
-(screaming)
Bitcoin's value cut in half
from its all-time high,
with the crypto casino
just making the whole
industry seem stupid.
crypto investor:
It sucks. I mean, I've lost
over $100,000 right now.
Yo! The m*therf*cking coins
are dipping!
Why is the price falling so low?
I've never cried so much
in my grown-a*s adult life.
It hurts. Um...
Yeah.
Nouriel Roubini:
These shitcoins,
they were outright scams
and frauds.
If there were real shitcoins,
you could use them as manure
to fertilize food.
I would rather buy sh*t,
literally sh*t,
that's worth something,
is a good fertilizer,
than buying shitcoins.
Hoback:
So, how could Bitcoin
separate itself from the pack?
choir:
Hallelujah
The answer was
Bitcoin maximalism.
Bitcoin is perfect.
It's perfect money.
singer:
Hallelujah
Hoback:
It was salvation
from the shitcoins.
A gift from on high.
Bitcoin is what they call
the Immaculate Conception.
Hoback:
The cure to all
the world's problems.
This idea that Bitcoin
was born perfect, you know?
It just, like, emerged
from the mind of Satoshi,
almost like a gift
that was received from God,
and just, like,
perfectly articulated
into the white paper,
and then into the code.
That's a complete myth.
Hoback:
So Bitcoin's greatest "virtue"
became that
it was already perfect,
reinforcing that it could
never fundamentally change.
Which created an opening
for its greatest competition.
Ethereum, a coin which was
Bitcoin's opposite
in almost every way,
including having
a very prominent founder.
-Why the hat?
-Oh, yeah...
For mosquitoes?
(speaking English)
So, Bitcoin is a blockchain
that's designed
for one application.
-The hat makes you
even more... conspicious.
-(Buterin mutters)
Vitalik Buterin:
Ethereum basically
will let people do
whatever thing that they want
to do on top of it.
Hoback:
Like NFTs,
which are basically just...
whatever f*cking sh*t
stored on a blockchain.
-We're part of the same
community. We're both apes.
-I know. Yes, love it.
Hoback:
Some people paid
ungodly amounts for these.
The Ethereum team even made
their announcements
-through... rap.
-(hip-hop music playing)
Yo, not just a pre-compiler
change of op-codes
We're here to sustain
the scale of our full nodes
Proof-of-stake is hard,
but what I do know
Is when we learn to shard
we'll change
the whole game though
Back: I mean, that was
super embarrassing, right?
-Yeah.
-(laughter)
Proof of cringe or something.
-(Prince Philip laughs)
-That was pretty bad.
Hoback:
Naturally, Bitcoin maximalists
hate Ethereum.
But then, what do you do
with Ethereum?
You make more shitcoins.
It went from
10,000 coins to 20,000 coins
in actually not that long
of a period of time.
The Scambrian expl*si*n.
-(laughter)
-(somber music playing)
Hoback:
But, the so-called
Scambrian expl*si*n
had a serious side effect.
China now had
the excuse it needed
to ban all crypto currencies,
so that they could
launch their own.
China's currency
is going digital,
known as e-Chinese yuan.
Hoback:
It was basically
a government-backed shitcoin.
Their digital currency
was inflationary,
their government had
total control of your wallet,
and it took Bitcoin's
privacy problems
and turned them into a feature.
speaker:
The People's Bank of China
is gonna be able
to peer inside of
every single transaction.
So, they're building
everything to be monitored.
(crowd clamoring)
So, there were protests
in Hong Kong.
And what people had to do
was buy their subway tickets
with cash.
-They couldn't use their card.
-Hoback: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mow:
Because then you can be traced
that you went to the protests.
So, it's a very dangerous thing.
Hoback:
It's what's known as a CBDC,
or central bank
digital currency.
With Bitcoin, it still takes
some digging
to figure out who owns what.
And if you're careful,
or you're Satoshi
-and never spend your coins,
you can stay hidden.
-(whoosh)
But, with CBDCs, your identity
is known to the government
and your wallet controlled.
In other words,
Satoshi's invention
had given rise to the very
thing it aimed to prevent.
-(money rustling)
-What would happen if other
countries followed suit?
But, the Maxis were convinced
that Bitcoin would win the day,
putting their faith on display
by pilgrimaging to a massive
yearly conference.
And it's ridiculous.
-(upbeat music playing)
-(crowd cheering)
I'll die on this hill,
but they can't stop this idea.
Maxi:
That bright orange future
that is Bitcoin...
We are the vanguard
of a new monetary system.
(cheering)
Yo! Yo! Yo! Bitcoin!
I am more bullish
than ever on Bitcoin.
(music stops)
Hoback:
It's like you're in
some sort of cult.
(laughs) You're gonna
make me look bad.
-(crowd cheering)
-I have Senator Indira Kempis
to give an update on Mexico.
Indira Kempis:
67 million people
are not included
in our financial system.
As the president of Madeira,
I believe in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin, within Prospera,
operates as legal tender.
I'll make a small announcement.
I have a new Bitcoin
company called Jan3.
I decided to leave Blockstream
and focus more on
nation-state Bitcoin adoption.
Hoback: So, were
they feeling the pressure?
(gallery chatter)
I guess Bitcoin doesn't
adopt itself, right?
-Well, I want it to go faster.
-(Back laughs)
Back:
So, uh, your company name, 3Jan?
-Jan3.
-So, explain why 3Jan?
January 3, 2009.
That was the start
of Bitcoin, was it?
-Well, that's the
Genesis Block, right?
-Okay!
Every year, it's Jan 3
is the anniversary
-of the Genesis Block.
-Alright, yeah, you're good
on the anniversaries.
Hoback:
Samson was telling me there was
another anniversary recently
-that I did not know of.
-Yeah, uh, Adam's birthday
on April 5th.
(awkward laugh)
-That's not my birthday.
-Inside joke.
-Is it? Very well.
-It's an inside joke.
Hoback:
April 5th
was Satoshi's
supposed birthday.
-Mow: She wants to take
a photo with her artwork.
-Back: Okay.
-It has no sleeve, right?
-No.
-It's a cloak? Alright.
-It's a cloak.
-(shutters snapping, laughter)
-You guys are having fun now.
So, he thinks that
you're Satoshi.
I hope he doesn't. (laughs)
I tried to explain to him
specifically that I'm not.
Hoback:
I said that you can
make a case for Adam,
and you can make
a strong case,
but it doesn't mean
that I'm convinced.
No, Satoshi was a team.
(laughing)
Just kidding. Just kidding.
Hoback:
Even with the breakup,
I was a little surprised
he was trolling Adam this hard
about being Satoshi.
-(Back speaking)
-(laughter)
Hoback:
Yeah, yeah, as long as
the troll is on your side.
(Back speaking)
(soft music playing)
(upbeat music playing)
-(items clatter)
-Mow: Oh, boy.
-(plane humming)
-Hoback: The US had more
or less fought wars
to maintain the status
of the dollar
as the global
reserve currency.
-Let's order a coffee.
-Okay.
Hoback:
How might they react
if more countries
adopted Bitcoin?
Mow:
I'm not gonna lie.
You're probably gonna
get some heat
because the powers that be
don't want this to happen.
Prince Philip:
All currencies
will turn to one.
Bitcoin.
Things change very quickly.
Tucker, I just wanna say hi.
You're doing an excellent job.
That's my card. (laughs)
-I'm the crazy prince
that's talking about Bitcoin.
-(laughs)
But, you know how it is.
They-- First, they laugh at you.
(indistinct chatter)
Stealth mode.
That's not stealth.
That's a Canada hoodie.
(Prince Philip speaking English)
Jack Dorsey: What Bitcoin
does to societies,
what it does to people's
relationship with money,
to the state, to each other,
it literally changes everything.
Hoback:
But, what path would it take?
Today, Bitcoin takes
yet another turn lower.
This is a Bitcoin emergency.
Complete free fall.
Anything can happen.
(thunder rumbles)
There's a crisis. You've got
reporters calling you right now.
-(boat rumbling)
-What are you telling them?
Well, I mean,
people look at the short term,
and the news cycle
is, like, day by day.
But, Bitcoin has been around
for, like, over a decade.
(thunder cracks)
(Hoback speaking)
-(boat captain speaking)
-Yeah.
-That's pretty cool.
-(murmuring)
(Hoback speaking)
(boat captain speaking)
Hoback:
Unfortunately for him,
amidst this crash,
Luna was a shitcoin
that really hit the fan.
(Hoback speaking)
-He had it.
-Yes. (laughs)
Hoback:
Looking like a Ponzi scheme...
You're looking at
a similar scale
to the Madoff Ponzi.
Hoback:
...after million-dollar
Ponzi scheme...
Celsius is being
accused of functioning
like a Ponzi scheme.
Hoback:
...this was their founder.
Who would be crazy enough
to give their coins,
their crypto, to somebody
who's not a bank?
Hoback:
But the people who trusted
this guy with their crypto,
they lost billions.
This is bullshit!
I gave you my g*dd*mn money!
I want it back!
What the f*ck is going on?!
Jim Cramer:
Cryptocurrencies of all kinds
are still cascading
with no real bottom in sight.
-(thunder cracks)
-Hoback: Is lightning serious?
(boat roaring)
Uh, I guess we're-we're
getting the hell outta here.
But, this storm wasn't over.
FTX shocked investors
by declaring
bankruptcy this week.
It spent millions making sure
its name was seen and known.
Hoback:
Sam Bankman-Fried,
known as SBF,
was the young, disheveled CEO
of a massive US-based
crypto exchange called FTX.
FTX? It's a safe and easy way
to get into crypto.
Eh, I don't think so.
Hoback:
He defrauded customers
and stole billions.
reporter:
This is worse than Theranos.
This is worse than Madoff.
Hoback:
And although he donated to
a lot of politicians
and charities...
If I can do anything
to help other people,
help the world,
that's just as good.
Hoback:
...he didn't manage to bribe
his way out of being arrested.
The fraud they committed
was worse than the Enron mess,
according to the guy
who cleaned up the Enron mess.
They used QuickBooks.
Multi-billion-dollar company
using QuickBooks.
Back:
The regulators, when they
see something losing...
(thunder cracks)
...$60 billion of retail money,
then, of course, they're gonna
have something to say.
Hoback:
Yeah, alright, let's get out.
The Secretary of the Treasury,
Janet Yellen,
began acting on
an executive order
that Biden had signed to
rein in the crypto industry.
There are risks to
financial stability,
and we need a framework.
Hoback:
But, what would this mean
for Bitcoin?
Just because you're paranoid
doesn't mean they're
not out to get you.
It's actually more realistic
than you think.
-(planes idling)
-Hello, Melina.
Good to see you again.
Hoback:
Samson returned to El Salvador,
where the President
was facing increased
international pressure
for having adopted Bitcoin.
The attacks are increasing.
This rating agency
just downgraded
El Salvador's long-term debt.
They're trying to put
the pressure on.
But, President
doesn't give a f*ck.
Shepard Smith:
The International Monetary Fund
has urged El Salvador
to reverse course on Bitcoin.
In response, Bukele tweeted,
"Okay, boomers.
You have zero jurisdiction.
We are not your colony, your
backyard, or your front yard."
William Soriano:
The IMF has some
political control
over the countries
they assist.
And that's where
Bitcoin comes in.
The first time I saw him,
he was saying,
"We're ready to die
on this hill. All of us!
We're ready to die
on this hill."
Hoback:
Hope they were ready
because the powers that be
-had a plan of their own.
-(waves splashing)
(insects chirping)
Okay, yeah,
this is the news. So...
uh, MasterCard, Wells Fargo,
Citigroup, and others launch
a 12-week experimental
digital dollar pilot
with the New York Fed.
Did you see that?
I didn't see that.
So what, it's a CBDC?
Oh, interesting.
-Your plot is coming true.
-Can I give you this?
Mow:
Things are heating up.
Can I give you some fiat?
-(laughter)
-(curious music playing)
Hoback: Under the cover
of the FTX scandal,
the United States announced
it would explore remaking
the US Dollar as a CBDC.
You know, that thing that was
condemned by Western media
-and US politicians
over human rights issues.
-(crowd yelling)
The Chinese CBDC
is a surveillance tool.
Hoback:
But now, the West was
preparing to get on board.
The Fed even had
their own white paper.
Jerome Powell:
As our white paper
on this topic notes,
a US CBDC could also
potentially help maintain
the dollar's
international standing.
-Hoback: A digital dollar...
-(glitching)
...that could replace
cash entirely.
And they weren't alone.
reporter:
60% of central banks
around the world
are currently experimenting
with CBDCs.
The CBDCs,
it's really or authoritarianism
from even Western governments.
On CBDCs, I have
pushed that project.
By 2030,
Britcoin,
a central bank digital currency,
will be up and running.
Hoback:
Why would a country
adopt Bitcoin
when a government could just
issue their own
digital currency
and have complete control?
Digital public money
could help drive out
bogus digital private money.
Ver: The technology
is tough to compete with,
so if you can't beat 'em,
you have to join 'em.
reporter:
It is potentially
the biggest change to money
since, I don't know,
currency consolidation
after the Civil w*r.
Roubini:
Once we have CBDCs,
they're gonna
essentially crowd out
any alternative
payment system.
So, the future
of payment transaction
is one bank,
run by the government
with some cooperation
of the private sector,
financial institutions.
Hoback:
So, banks might still manage
things like giving out loans.
But someday, our bank accounts
could be directly with the Fed?
They can surveil
all your transactions,
and they have
complete data monopoly.
Well, I think it's
a bit of a crossroads. (laughs)
It could become
extremely dystopian.
Mow: There is a way
that you could do a CBDC
that is not... bad for people.
-But, the problem is
they don't want that.
-No, of course not.
They don't want the privacy.
Faster Bitcoin adoption means
the better off the world will be
when the sh*t hits the fan.
And the sh*t is hitting the fan.
(curious music playing)
Fallout continues
to grow from the collapse
of Silicon Valley Bank
and Signature Bank.
First Republic Bank,
second largest bank failure
in US history.
Hoback:
Following the pandemic,
the Fed printed a lot of money.
$13 trillion.
It triggered inflation
not seen in over 40 years.
Suddenly, banks had
risky balance sheets.
There were bank runs,
and four massive banks
were wiped out overnight.
Similar to what happened
in 2009,
the government stepped in
to prevent
a total financial meltdown.
I can reassure the members
of the committee
that our banking system
is sound.
Hoback:
Amid this crisis,
regulators seized
an opportunity.
Kathy Hochul:
New York State Department
of Financial Services
took possession of
a New York chartered bank,
known as Signature,
last night.
Hoback:
This was strange
because Signature Bank
wasn't actually insolvent.
Meanwhile, First Republic,
another bank that failed, was.
But instead of
shutting them down,
they got a full bail-out.
The difference, Signature was
the only major bank
servicing the crypto industry.
The regulators are sending a,
uh, a clear signal.
Stay, stay away from digital.
Hoback:
But, the next signal
would come in the form
of a familiar face.
So, Roger Ver, Bitcoin Jesus
was just arrested in Spain.
Roger had allegedly evaded
$48 million in Bitcoin taxes.
You can have your own
private bank account, right?
It's called a Bitcoin account,
and it's impossible
for the government
to seize your account.
Hoback:
But, it seems
they could extradite him,
even though he'd renounced
his US citizenship.
Todd: You know,
what you're really asking
is what's the endpoint
to the crackdowns.
This is an example
of regulators
who cannot actually do
what they want to do,
-which was just go ban Bitcoin.
-Back: Right.
Instead, they apply pressure
in this sort of alternative way
to go do something they're
not really allowed to do.
They fired all
the missiles now, right?
They-They've sued
the biggest exchanges.
They've made
all the allegations.
Hoback:
But, the big banks and the
government weren't done yet.
Dimon:
Crypto, Bitcoin, etc.
If I was the government,
I'd close it down.
We've got a way to do this!
Hoback:
So, Senator Warren
introduced a bipartisan bill
that would essentially
make it ill*gal
to use Bitcoin
like digital cash.
Asked if they would
support this,
the banks seemed delighted.
-Let's go on down the line.
-Absolutely.
-banker 1: Absolutely.
-banker 2: Absolutely.
banker 3:
Absolutely.
-Absolutely, Senator.
-Okay, I like absolutely!
Hoback:
But Wall Street had a plan.
Let's get it inside
the regulated system
as much as, as we can.
Hoback:
Bitcoin would be traded
on the stock market,
but you wouldn't
actually own it.
The banks and hedge funds,
they would hold it for you.
This is the day
where it goes from malarkey
to actually
an investable asset.
Hoback:
Bitcoin would now be a part of
retirement funds and pensions.
Put Bitcoin in their 401(k)s.
Hoback:
Solidifying its role
as digital gold.
It seemed so long as Bitcoin
didn't compete
with the US dollar,
so long as governments could
monitor every transaction...
Let's do
a central bank digital currency.
Are you there?
Yes, I think it's time.
Hoback:
...so long as Bitcoin didn't
function like digital cash,
it would be allowed.
Because
the Small Blocker solution
kind of required
government permission.
Taaki:
Those people who are like,
"We need Bitcoin
"to become, like,
well-established,
become accepted by the banks,"
they didn't realize that they
were, like, cutting this deal
which would compromise
some Bitcoin's values.
Hoback: In fact,
Maxis seemed more concerned
with Bitcoin
hitting a million dollars
than being usable as cash.
Mow:
To get to one million,
we should be going up,
on average, 10k a day.
Hoback:
And if Bitcoin hits
a million dollars,
then Satoshi becomes
a trillionaire.
O'Leary:
And there has been rumors
that maybe Satoshi
will weigh in.
Hoback:
With the stakes so high,
and with Bitcoin
being woven into
the fabric of
the financial system,
affecting everyone,
perhaps the question
of Satoshi's identity
was more pressing than ever.
(dramatic music playing)
(tense sting)
(birds flapping)
Peter's never taken you
on one of his...
-caving adventures before, Adam?
-No.
Civilization's ruins, eh?
(laughs)
-Hoback: (laughs) Yeah.
-End days.
Hoback:
When you look out on all this,
uh, abandoned sh*t,
what does it
make you think of?
Maybe, um,
a more decentralized future?
Geopolitically.
There's something to be said
for not breaking what--
Todd:
There's something to be said
for exploring this great place.
-Back: Okay.
-Todd: Without dying.
(Todd laughs)
Hoback:
So, there's a lot of
things that point to you,
Adam, being Satoshi,
and I had been spending some
time trying to disprove that.
You know,
like the Wikipedia edits?
Back:
It was because I was like,
why are you deleting this?
Bitcoin is a big deal. It's like
a clever invention, right?
Hoback:
You added suspects for Satoshi.
-Really?
-Hoback: Yeah.
Well, don't-don't just
agree with him. Ask for a proof.
That doesn't seem like something
very advisable to do.
There's, like,
old emails with you
commenting on Bitcoin
in pretty detailed terms.
-I mean--
-Hoback: It doesn't mean
that you're Satoshi.
-It just means that you were...
-Yeah. Well, I think--
Hoback:
...you were engaged before you
say you were engaged.
Anyway, like, you're missing
the biggest piece of evidence
that he's Satoshi of all.
Which is that he gets
on the Bitcoin Talk
in, what, 2012 or so? 2013?
-'13. Mm.
-Yeah, '13.
And, like, he's clueless!
Doesn't know anything
about Bitcoin!
Hoback:
This wasn't the first time
Peter had pointed
to this evidence.
Best evidence of him
being Satoshi.
-Of not being Satoshi.
-Todd: Being Satoshi.
Hoback: So, was his goal
to out Adam as Satoshi?
It's hard to know, right?
These agencies are sneaky.
Hoback:
Months earlier, I began
looking into Peter Todd,
trying to understand
his motives.
In particular, I'd focused
on the leaked email exchange
between Peter Todd
and John Dillon,
the supposed government agent
who had offered Peter
that ridiculous $500 reward
to create replace-by-fee.
John Dillon's email
had supposedly been hacked,
and their emails were leaked.
I wanna talk through the stuff
we were going over
the other night.
So, I called up an editor
on my team
to talk through
some of these clues.
This is
an encrypted email chain,
and this is all you do
with the hack
is release something that makes
Peter Todd look pretty good?
Uh, that, to me, that's part
of what started to really...
smell like maybe it was
the same person.
Going through the archives,
I discovered
I wasn't alone.
Gavin Andresen and some
of the folks at Blockstream,
they also suspected
they were the same person.
-I mean, why did you
create the John Dillon handle?
-I didn't.
-(Back laughs)
-Hoback: Come on!
Nope. Not me.
Hoback:
He was playing bad cop.
You're playing good cop.
Back:
So, my theory about John Dillon
is that Peter just enjoys
perverse game theory.
I don't enjoy perverse
game theory that much.
Although it was
certainly interesting
to get contacted by the guy.
-Okay.
-I certainly enjoyed
it enough to respond to him.
-(film crew laughing wildly)
-Back: Mm-hmm.
-Okay.
-Hoback: The only person
who believes Peter is Peter.
Yeah,
that's how it should be.
Hoback:
If Peter Todd wasn't
communicating
with a government agent,
and he just made this sh*t up,
then why concoct
such an elaborate scheme?
So, I went through everything
I could find on Peter Todd,
going back to his
earliest messages
on the Bitcoin Talk forum.
Now, Peter likes to suggest
that he didn't really get
involved with Bitcoin until...
2014. That's when I sort of
"quit the day job," if you will.
Hoback:
But, he had registered
all the way back
in December of 2010.
The first thing he wrote
was just asking for
an invite to something.
But the next post,
a few days later,
was super technical.
And then, he doesn't
post again until 2012.
But, it's that
super technical post
that made me rethink
just about everything.
I was so taken aback,
I called my editor immediately.
Uh, so, I'm kind of embarrassed
I missed this.
So, his first post
is on December 7, 2010.
But then, three days later,
uh, he makes another post.
editor (on phone):
"Of course, to be specific,
"the inputs and outputs
can't match exactly
if the second transaction
has a transaction fee."
Seems like
he's responding to something.
(sighs) Yeah.
editor (on phone):
Oh, responding to Satoshi?
Hoback:
He's replying to Satoshi, yeah.
Yeah, like
an hour and a half later.
But, read it closely.
Is he responding, David?
Or is he continuing a thought?
(typing)
So, Satoshi is proposing this,
like, future scheme
that hasn't been invented yet.
And Peter Todd
just kinda continues
that thought
an hour and a half later.
Someone who had
just created this account,
and never posted
about Bitcoin before,
was finishing
Satoshi's sentences?
With a deep f*cking
knowledge of how,
wait for it,
replace-by-fee works.
That thing that Peter Todd
would one day invent
a character for.
It gets weirder though, David.
So, you know,
we've thought that, like,
Satoshi dropped off
of the Bitcoin Talk forums
because of WikiLeaks, right?
But, when would Satoshi
drop off the
Bitcoin Talk forum?
editor David (on phone):
Three days after Peter Todd
-replies or adds
on to this post.
-Hoback: That's right.
You'll never see another post
from Satoshi ever again.
Three days after
joining the forum,
Peter Todd finishes
Satoshi's sentence,
and then disappears.
Alongside Satoshi.
Here's what I think
might have happened.
He created this new account.
Then, a couple days later,
you know,
writes the Satoshi post,
logs out...
logs back in,
but doesn't log back in
with the correct account.
And he posts as Peter Todd
instead of Satoshi.
And then, makes a couple
more posts as Satoshi
'cause he doesn't want it
to look like
it's directly related to this.
And Peter Todd just evaporates
for two f*cking years.
editor David (on phone):
That's, that's insane.
It's insane.
It was just so suspicious,
I wanted Peter to explain
how this was possible.
Satoshi's last post was, like,
one week after I signed up
for Bitcoin Talk.
But...
Hoback:
Right. And then,
you disappeared.
Yeah, then I disappeared.
(laughs)
And Satoshi disappeared
at the same time.
Todd:
Yeah.
I really should've paid more
attention to Bitcoin early on,
but, you know,
I had other stuff to do.
Y-You corrected Satoshi,
but it kind of looks more like
you were continuing
a thought of Satoshi.
Well, Satoshi made
a little brain fart on, like,
how exactly transactions work,
and I corrected him
on that very boring thing.
Hoback:
Why didn't you delete
the 2010 post?
Why would I?
Hoback:
Well,
I mean, 'cause it,
it just makes you look like
you had these deep insights
into Bitcoin at the time and--
Well, yeah.
I'm Satoshi Nakamoto.
Hoback:
I mean,
it's sort of the last thing
you'd expect Satoshi to say.
Ah, but that's it.
That's like
the meta level, right?
Because I know you would
expect Satoshi Nakamoto
to delete the post.
You just said,
"Why didn't Satoshi Nakamoto
delete the post?"
-The post that was corrected?
-Yeah, yeah,
the correction post.
Right? But then,
I did the next level of meta
and then didn't delete the post
to go throw off people like you.
Hoback:
Peter sure remembered this post
he'd made 13 years ago
awfully well.
Yeah...
I don't know.
You're-You're feeding him, like,
-footage that's just gonna be--
-Yeah. Oh, it's gonna be great.
Hoback:
Peter Todd's strategy,
his game theory to
throw people off the trail...
-Oh, no, I am Satoshi.
I'm Satoshi Nakamoto.
-(Hoback laughs)
Hoback:
...was so effective,
I hadn't really
considered him a suspect.
In fact, just about
no one had considered him.
So, you don't think it's Peter?
You-- No way?
Peter's ruled out
way, way early on.
Hoback:
And even insinuating this
would get you laughed
off the forums.
Peter Todd was just
a little kid back then.
Hoback:
So, was it possible that
Peter Todd could be Satoshi?
When you start to, like,
run through all the,
all the scenarios,
it checks a lot of boxes.
Satoshi wrote messages
like they were
on an academic calendar,
with more time in the summer.
I was off getting
a fine arts degree.
Hoback:
Then, there was the British
or Canadian writing style.
Todd:
There was something called
the Toronto Caving Group.
Hoback: In 2001,
when the dude is 15 or 16,
he is literally already
trying to figure out
how to turn Hashcash
into a currency.
After all,
I did try to invent Bitcoin.
And I'm not bitter that
Satoshi got there first.
You know, when I first
saw the Bitcoin code,
I was like, this is not
a professional programmer.
Hoback:
Which Peter Todd wasn't.
Experienced C++ coders
basically confirmed
that it could've been
written by either of you.
-So, do you think
I can write in C++?
-Hoback: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
Mm. That doesn't sound
like you've done your research.
-(Todd laughs)
-Yeah.
Hoback:
But, that old resume he tried
to scrub from the internet
showed that he'd coded
a system in C++ from scratch.
Why bother lying about this?
So, he's done a bit of,
bit of research. That's good.
Hoback:
And if you were like, 22
when you created Bitcoin,
imagine what it would do
to your psyche.
He's the contrarian
of contrarians.
I-I think people often,
often miss this nuance.
He always wants
to make sure he can prove
that he's the smartest guy
in the room.
Hoback:
Well, I think if it was a team,
it wouldn't have been
more than two people.
Didn't need even two people.
One could have written it.
Hoback:
But, who could Satoshi
trust with Bitcoin's future?
Adam Back
would keep the secret.
Hoback:
Maybe the first guy
that emailed back in 2008.
Or it could be
somebody younger.
Hoback:
The guy who, you know,
has sort of considered you
like a son.
Remind me again,
what's your source
for the "considered you
like a son" thing?
Hoback:
That was with you last time.
-Back: What?
-No.
I think he thinks
of you like a son.
A son. Yeah.
-(crosstalk)
-No, sorry. No, no offense,
I'm much closer
to Greg Maxwell than you.
Much closer.
Hoback:
Greg Maxwell, who co-founds
Blockstream with Adam Back.
This loose coupling
isn't inherent.
You can sort of pick
your degree of looseness.
Hoback:
Keeping Peter at
arm's length...
We talked about saying it
would actually be much better
if I didn't work
for Blockstream.
Hoback:
...in order to solve
Bitcoin's technical problems,
which they couldn't
do anonymously.
You need to give people space to
actually work on these issues.
Hoback:
But, they would need cover...
O'Leary:
Whoever had access
to Satoshi's email
was somewhat aligned
with Blockstream.
Hoback:
...to push back against Gavin.
We'll definitely
need to increase
the maximum block size.
That doesn't mean
you're the leader.
That just means you're the guy
who answers questions.
Hoback:
And here's the big one.
What if the real reason
for using the name Satoshi,
for the anonymity,
was so that people
could take Bitcoin seriously?
So they could believe
that it must have been created
by one of these
famous cryptographers,
and not some kid
still in school?
-So, here's what
I think happened.
-Todd: Hm?
-Possibly. Okay?
-Todd: Possibly.
I think that John Dillon...
(Todd snickers)
...was created
so that you would have an excuse
-to make replace-by-fee.
-(Todd laughing)
A concept which you had
envisioned years earlier,
-but you needed some kind
of cover in order to make.
-(laughing harder)
And you also needed some cover
for that 2010 post.
Todd:
(laughing) 2010 post? Please.
Yeah, because I was Satoshi?
Hoback:
I mean, yeah.
You know, you're very concerned
about all the privacy stuff.
-(laughing)
-So, you reach out
to your old buddy Adam Back.
You say, we need to do
something about this,
but we need to pay the devs.
But you can't join Blockstream
-because it would look
too, uh, suspicious.
-(laughing harder)
-So, you don't.
-(sighs) I will admit,
you're pretty creative.
You come up with
some crazy theories.
It's ludicrous,
but it's the sort of theory
someone who spends their time
as a documentary journalist
would come up with.
So yeah, yeah. I'll say,
of course I'm Satoshi,
and I'm Craig Wright.
And yes,
I was definitely covering
that little bit about,
you know, fees
to go pretend to be Satoshi.
Or not Satoshi,
one or the other. (snickers)
Hoback:
Well, why make up
the whole John Dillon thing?
-Well, like I said,
I'm not John Dillon.
-Hoback: Okay.
Sorry. I'm not John Dillon.
I don't know who that is.
I'll warn you.
This is gonna be very funny
when you put this
into the documentary
and a bunch
of Bitcoiners watch it.
-Back: I think--
-Hoback: Well, I don't think
they would be very happy
with this conclusion because
you're pretty controversial
within the community
at this point.
No, I-I suspect a lot
of them will be very happy
if you go this route.
'Cause it's gonna be like
yet another example
of journalists
really missing the point,
in a way that's very funny.
Hoback:
What is the point?
The point is just to make
Bitcoin the global currency.
And people like you
being distracted by nonsense
can potentially
do good on that.
(somber music playing)
Hoback:
And it seemed this plan
was coming to life.
(applause)
With Wall Street's involvement
bringing Bitcoin
to new heights...
Hoback:
El Salvador found
itself in the black.
Suddenly, presidents
were taking Samson's calls.
(group speaking Spanish)
And Argentina's
newly elected president
shut down its central bank
and allowed people
to use Bitcoin
however they wanted.
Bitcoin was advancing
as a currency,
even if America throttled
its use as digital cash.
Maybe it wasn't the design that
made Bitcoin so unstoppable.
Maybe it was human nature.
Or just plain old greed.
Even Dr. Doom
launched his own
blockchain-based token.
Craig Wright was proven
to be a fraud in court,
but it required Adam
to finally release
his emails with Satoshi.
He had been telling the truth.
And as more of Satoshi's
conversations came to light,
so did the genius,
the struggles,
and the immaturity.
But, what about the stash?
Well, you know my--
I-I mean, I don't know for sure,
but, like, my suspicion is
Satoshi did, in fact, go destroy
all of Satoshi's ability
to prove who they were.
Hoback:
But, they hadn't
burned the coins.
(expl*si*n blasts)
Or in a way, had they?
A few months after
confronting Peter,
I came across
this old chat log,
that someone probably
shouldn't have recorded,
where Peter says,
"I'm probably
the world-leading expert
"on how to sacrifice
your Bitcoins.
"And I've done exactly
one such sacrifice,
and I did it by hand."
It was hard not to read
this as an admission.
Like Peter wanted
his inner circle
to trust that he had, in fact,
sacrificed the Bitcoins,
and destroyed all access.
But, this wasn't proof.
It's Bitcoin.
Don't trust, verify.
And sometimes,
you can't verify.
Back:
Mm-hmm.
Hoback: And if Peter Todd
and his friends at Blockstream
were, in fact, behind Bitcoin,
would he remain an idealist?
Or was he still holding on
to the keys to
the world's fortune?
Just in case.
(dramatic music playing)
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Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery (2024)
Moderators: Maskath3, GabrielAlejo2341, sidolanters, Maskath3, sidolanters, GabrielAlejo2341