Today in crypto, HBO’s Bitcoin flick claimed Peter Todd is the cryptocurrency’s creator as speculation about who the documentary would name intensified ahead of its debut. Meanwhile, a crypto wallet shared by rapper Cardi B was traced back to a crypto scammer.
HBO documentary names Peter Todd as Satoshi
HBO’s documentary aimed at outing Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, has named Canadian Bitcoin core developer Peter Todd — who has denied the claim.
Cullen Hobak, the producer of HBO’s Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, confronts Todd and Blockstream founder Adam Back with evidence he gathered to conclude that Todd was Nakamoto.
The film ends with Todd saying: “Well yeah, I’m Satoshi Nakamoto,” in response to a confrontational question from Hoback — Todd is well-known for invoking such a phrase as a way of supporting the real creator’s right to privacy.
Todd also denied being Nakamoto on social media after the release of the documentary. blenting writing, “I am not Satoshi” in an Oct. 8 response to a comment on X asking him to deny HBO’s claim.
Holback’s reasoning for claiming Todd is Nakamoto rests on a chat log message Todd wrote where he claims to be “the world’s leading expert on how to sacrifice your Bitcoins,” adding that he had “done one such sacrifice and I did it by hand.”
Hoback classified this message as an admission that Todd permanently removed his ability to access the $69.4 billion believed to be held by Nakamoto.
Debate over Satoshi’s identity intensifies ahead of HBO doc
Speculation about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto intensified ahead of HBO’s documentary with a report by 10x Research revisiting two leading theories about Nakamoto’s identity — one pointing to cryptographer Nick Szabo and the other signaling involvement by the US National Security Agency (NSA).
10x Research noted Szabo’s influence on cryptography, highlighting his proposal for Bitcoin’s precursor, “Bit Gold,” in the 1990s.
The researchers also pointed to the NSA’s expertise in technology for the organization’s potential role in Bitcoin’s creation. 
As Cointelegraph reported, Szabo recently overtook late cryptographer Len Sassaman as HBO’s Nakamoto reveal.
However, in the later hours of Oct. 8, Adam Back—a familiar name in the Bitcoin community—was the odds-on favorite to be outed as Nakamoto, according to Polymarket.
WAP crypto token promoted by Cardi B traced to scam origins
On Oct. 8, Cardi B’s official X account shared a promotional post for WAP, a cat-themed memecoin and abbreviation of “Wet Ass Pussy.” Along with a video of WAP’s mascot, an animated cat, Cardi B shared a wallet address, which was flagged by crypto investigators.
Pseudonymous blockchain sleuth Wazz’s initial investigation revealed that Cardi B’s wallet address had links to numerous rug pull projects. Crypto investigation firm PeckShield suspected that a crypto scammer hacked Cardi B’s X account.
BubbleMaps, a blockchain data visualization platform, found that 60% of the WAP supply was bundled at launch. Moreover, it noted that around $500,000 worth of tokens had already been dumped within 10 hours of the project’s launch.
According to Bubblemaps, 15 crypto addresses were previously funded by a crypto exchange wallet. The same address transferred their WAP holdings, spread across roughly 100 wallets.
“In an attempt to hide from Bubblemaps, all wallets involved in the bundling transferred their tokens one-to-one to brand-new addresses 4 hours ago. Good try,” the firm said.
