He also dismantled the film's central argument that Satoshi never sold a single coin. If Satoshi did sell, Back argued, those sales likely came from later, more ambiguous coins where attribution becomes impossible.
Documentary Backlash Grows
Back also flagged a timeline contradiction. The film names Hal Finney and Len Sassaman as co-creators, but Sassaman lacked C++ skills and never owned a Windows machine, both required to write Bitcoin's original code.
Other observers have echoed Back's skepticism, noting the documentary, produced over four years by William D. Cohan and Tyler Maroney, ignored evidence that disqualified its earlier suspects.
The renewed scrutiny matters because Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator controls roughly 1.1 million coins, more than 5% of total supply.
The Finding Satoshi film, released Apr. 22, follows an April 8 New York Times investigation by Pulitzer winner John Carreyrou that named Back himself as the strongest candidate, a claim he denied at the time and has continued to push back on since.
Alexey Bondarev is the Head of Content at Yellow.com, having reported on crypto for the last 10 years. He specializes in in-depth Research and Learn pieces, with a focus on analytical reporting, industry context, and the bigger forces shaping crypto, from the AI era and security technologies to fintech innovation. He believes that everything digital will imminently overcome everything analogue and is working hard to make that come true.
