Documentation about the Bitcoin legend now on Arte

The small documentary series “Bitcoin – How it all began. Mysterium Satoshi “tells the story of the origin and development of Bitcoin, which is also interesting for non-techies – from the beginnings to the present day. It was created on behalf of the Franco-German cultural broadcaster Arte and has been available for some time from the Arte media library.

The well-made series lets companions Satoshis and other crypto experts have their say. A collage of different contributions paints a detailed picture of the Bitcoin inventor. The background to the formation and the original goals of Bitcoin are described. The complete anonymity of the creator quickly turns out to be a strategy. Because Nakamoto has obviously deliberately kept in the background so as not to make his invention vulnerable. As major investor Peter Thiel recently said: “If we knew who Satoshi is, the government would have arrested him long ago.” .

Enthusiasts interested in the technology behind Bitcoin should primarily study episodes 3 and 5. “Bitcoin – How it all began” is not a romantic glorification of a mysterious inventor, who not a few perceive as modern Robin Hood. The series also takes into account critical issues such as the environmental impact or the risk of a speculative bubble. Security and privacy aspects as well as the derivation and development of the various altcoins are also discussed.

Since Tuesday you can watch four of the six episodes of the series on Youtube – or further down in this post. After Arte has uploaded episodes to Youtube in quick succession since November 17, 2021 – most recently on Tuesday – it can be assumed that the two missing parts will also be available by the end of the week on the sender’s YouTube channel become available. For now we have episodes 5 and 6 out the Arte media library involved.

Each of the six episodes is between nine and 13 minutes long. So in total you have to sacrifice about 70 minutes of your time to watch the entire documentary. It is possible to call up other language variants via Arte directly. The episodes included here are the German versions – with interview sequences in English with subtitles.

The digital peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin first appeared in the public eye on Halloween 2008. A person who called himself Satoshi Nakamoto had published a paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, but did not identify himself.

Since the rise of Bitcoin, finding the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has become a popular game. The media has linked a dozen or so people with the name Nakamoto over the years. Australian entrepreneur Craig Steven Wright was the only person who aggressively claimed to be Nakamoto. Wright has never proven his claim.

One of the most likely speculations at the moment seems to be that Satoshi Nakamoto could have been the developer Len Sassaman, who died in 2011. This is supported by the fact that Satoshi Nakamoto’s last known message was published two months before Sassaman’s death. In addition, Sassaman is said to have used the same British English as Satoshi Nakamoto in his tweets.

The digital wallets attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto contain more than a million Bitcoin – the equivalent of more than 64 billion US dollars. If Satoshi had been Sassaman, the explanation for the fact that the Bitcoin are untouched would have been found quickly.