- 1John Carreyrou's NYT reporting points to Bitcoin developer Adam Back.
- 2An HBO documentary by Cullen Hoback concludes it is Peter Todd.
- 3Dorsey sidestepped a question about the theory on Nov. 19, 2025.
The mystery of who created Bitcoin has produced a fresh round of competing answers, none of which agree.
The theories
The New York Times published its own theory based on detective work by John Carreyrou, the reporter who exposed the Theranos fraud involving Elizabeth Holmes. Carreyrou says Satoshi Nakamoto is probably Adam Back, the Bitcoin developer best known for being cited in Satoshi's original 2008 research paper. Carreyrou has said his confidence hovers between 99% and 100%, but peers in his field disagree.
Film producer Cullen Hoback, known for work on the individual behind the QAnon conspiracy, reached a different conclusion in an HBO documentary: that Satoshi is Bitcoin developer Peter Todd. Investigative reporter William D. Cohan is releasing a documentary, Finding Satoshi, within seven days that claims to be more comprehensive than either and to name someone else entirely. Separately, the CEO of Coinbase has said repeatedly in podcast interviews that he believes Satoshi is the late cryptographer Hal Finney.
Dorsey
An earlier editorial guess named Jack Dorsey. Carreyrou did not buy that theory when they discussed it in February 2025. On November 19, 2025, Dorsey had the chance to deny it in front of shareholders and Wall Street analysts but sidestepped, saying the question was no longer important.
The piece's closing take is that since these confident investigators cannot all be right, the Dorsey theory survives another day. Dorsey founded Twitter and Square, and Block's Square is currently the largest originator of online small business loans.
Source reporting: deBanked.
