Who Created Bitcoin? ‘Finding Satoshi’ Documentary Points to Hal Finney and Len Sassaman

Highlights:

• Finding Satoshi claims Hal Finney and Len Sassaman likely worked together to create Bitcoin.
• The documentary challenges the idea that Bitcoin came from one unknown person alone.
• It also disputes the recent theory that Blockstream CEO Adam Back was Satoshi.

A new documentary called “Finding Satoshi” is challenging everything the crypto world thought it knew about Bitcoin’s mysterious creator. Released on Wednesday, the film argues that Bitcoin was not built by a single person. Instead, it concludes that two well-known figures in the cryptography world, Hal Finney and Len Sassaman, worked together under the now-famous pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the anonymous creator, or creators, of Bitcoin in 2008. Despite years of speculation, no one has ever been able to prove who was behind it.

What the “Finding Satoshi” Claims and Who Made It

Finding Satoshi was directed by Matthew Miele and Tucker Tooley. The investigation behind it was led by private investigator Tyler Maroney of Quest Research & Investigations and author William D. Cohan. After four years of digging, the team landed on a two-person theory.

Their theory is straightforward. Hal Finney, a legendary figure in the cypherpunk community and the first person ever to receive a Bitcoin transaction, wrote Bitcoin’s code. Len Sassaman, another respected cryptographer whose doctoral advisor was cryptography pioneer David Chaum, is believed to have written the words, including the famous Bitcoin whitepaper published in 2008.

“For the entire investigation, we’ve been pursuing Satoshi as if he were one person. But all of our evidence is leading to the conclusion that it was two people collaborating,” said Tyler Maroney in the film.

Evidence in the Film Favors Finney and Sassaman

One of the strongest pieces of evidence came from data scientist Alyssa Blackburn. She had previously studied Bitcoin’s early mining patterns, so the team brought her in to analyze when Satoshi was actually online and active. What she found was consistent. Satoshi’s activity almost always fell between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, day after day.

Blackburn then compared that pattern with six people who were serious candidates to be Satoshi: Adam Back, Nick Szabo, Wei Dai, Hal Finney, Len Sassaman, and Paul Le Roux. After going through all six, she said it was “inconceivable” that Back, Szabo, or Dai could match that timezone pattern. Only Finney and Sassaman did.

Will Price, co-founder of PGP Corp, who worked alongside Finney for 15 years, pointed to a suspicious two-month gap just before Bitcoin’s genesis block, during which Finney made no commits to his own projects. 

Bram Cohen, creator of BitTorrent and a close friend of both men, told the filmmakers their interests and habits matched Satoshi’s profile precisely. He also suggested Sassaman’s public criticism of Bitcoin was a deliberate act to avoid suspicion.

Both men are now deceased. Sassaman died in July 2011, roughly six months after Satoshi’s last known public communication. Finney passed away in 2014 from complications related to ALS.

How This Conflicts with the New York Times Investigation

Just 14 days before the documentary premiered, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Carreyrou published a major New York Times investigation pointing to Adam Back, a British cryptographer and CEO of Blockstream, as the most likely Satoshi. 

That investigation relied heavily on computational linguistic analysis, matching Satoshi’s unusual hyphenation patterns against hundreds of people who posted on pre-2008 cryptography mailing lists. Back matched 67 of those patterns, a striking statistical result.

Carreyrou also noted that Back went nearly silent on the Cryptography mailing list during the years Satoshi was active, only reappearing six weeks after Satoshi’s last post in 2011. Back has firmly denied the claim, stating simply, “I’m not Satoshi.”

The two investigations could not be more different in their methods. The NYT report focuses on linguistic patterns and behavioral clues around a living person. Finding Satoshi focuses on timezone data, personal testimony, and domain expertise pointing to two people who can no longer speak for themselves.

Satoshi Mystery Carries Financial Stakes

Beyond historical curiosity, Satoshi’s identity carries real financial weight. Satoshi is believed to hold around 1.1 million Bitcoin that have never been moved. If Adam Back is Satoshi, those coins are potentially in the hands of a living person still active in the industry.

If Finney and Sassaman were Satoshi, those coins are almost certainly gone forever, permanently removed from circulation, which would actually make Bitcoin slightly more scarce over time.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called Finding Satoshi “the most thoughtful take on this subject I’ve seen out there” and gave Coinbase users early access to the film ahead of its public release.

The Finding Satoshi documentary is the most thoughtful take on this subject I've seen out there.

It's coming out tomorrow, but Coinbase users can get early access today. Open your Coinbase app to find out more! pic.twitter.com/dN15Y8VZBU

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 21, 2026