New Documentary Claims Hal Finney and Len Sassaman Co-Created Bitcoin as Satoshi Nakamoto

A new documentary called Finding Satoshi concludes that the late Cypherpunks Hal Finney and Len Sassaman together created Bitcoin under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto — a finding that diverges sharply from recent competing theories ^[1].

The nearly 100-minute film was produced by NYT bestselling author William Cohan and private investigator Tyler Maroney, whose team spent over three years on the investigation. Coinbase is listed as a project supporter. Prominent figures including Bill Gates, Michael Saylor, and former SEC Chair Gary Gensler appear in the documentary, as do the widows of both Finney and Sassaman ^[1].

The core argument rests on complementary skill sets: Sassaman was experienced in writing academic whitepapers, while Finney possessed the programming ability needed to build Bitcoin. Supporting evidence includes their shared employer — PGP — frequent online contact in 2008, and Sassaman's residence in Europe around Bitcoin's launch, which could explain Satoshi's mixed British and American spelling ^[1].

However, significant counterarguments remain. Sassaman publicly dismissed Bitcoin as overhyped, and both men individually lack key attributes associated with Satoshi. As with all previous identification attempts, no definitive proof exists — only Satoshi could provide conclusive verification by moving the original mined coins or signing a message with the corresponding private key ^[1].