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Film is on NOSTR here: https://blossom.primal.net/4dfcfb17d28863f00882451d5f4eb638164dda01f51a514454aff8219a27a69c.mp4

I Just finished the Finding Satoshi film.
This is my short review of the film. I make these comments as somone who has been studying Satoshi for more then a decade.

SPOILER ALERT IF YOU READ BELOW

@findingsatoshi_

is a beautiful tribute to

@halfin

BUT, that tribute conflates and omits key details that contribute to the final and accurate conclusion that Hal contributed code to Bitcoin before it launched.

This was well known before this film was published, as documented here https://youtu.be/IGs4xYSx4YE

Nothing new. Unfortunately, this film omits the key emails on the cryptography mailing list in Nov 2008, and privately with Hal, that made this very obvious for any layman.

The only New things I saw in this film were the various interviews, and the timing analysis shapes for Satoshi activity.

The timing shape matching Satoshi with Len was interesting. Len being an anon advocate and in the PGP circles when RPOW was released is interesting. But not conclusive.

Unfortunately, this film suffers from the same logical flaw as the recent New York Times article. They start with known candidates first and try to fit them in to Satoshi frame.

When it's very likely Satoshi is an entirely unknown non public figure. Who by the way, could still be alive.

One disturbing aspect of this film I found was that the investigators explicit intention to finger Satoshi via making them move coins somehow.

Coupled with

@lopp

's participation in this film, and the recent publishing of BIP361 - which is a subtle threat to Satoshi to move his coins eventually, or risk them being frozen by this Fork proposal -

We have a potential bad actor(s) self admitting their strategy in this film to force an action upon Satoshi, potentially via BIP361, whose author participates in the same film.

The implied goal of getting Satoshi to move coins in current day to doxx Satoshi is something I find disturbing and repulsive.

With all that said, this film does do justice to the cypherpunk lore and history. It does do justice to honoring Hal, who is worthy of it.

And it may do justice in honoring Len, though I still find that inconclusive and a stretch with too few green flags.

Though one further aspect this film serves is convincing the zeitgeist that Satoshi is dead, his coins are thus unmovable, goes the logic.

I am not so sure though. I think these conclusions are useful for some people, maybe even for Satoshi, if they are still alive, or their family with the keys.

Final conclusion. Good film, honors the right people, but no smoking gun, and a bit lacking in relevant primary source details (Nov 08 cryptography list emails).

addendum.

One New thing in this film that i forgot to mention. Hal apparently took 2 months off at PGP after the whitepaper was published.

this aligns with emails between hal and satoshi where they were reviewing Bitcoin code with others like james donald and cryditt for a first release. these emails are largely still private today, though some of their shadows are public, showcasing Satoshi's collaboration and code review with members of the cryptography mailing list.

this was already known largely, But the detail of Hal taking time off during this key timeframe is more evidence supporting his early contribution to Bitcoin as the first contributing developer (also evidence of this seen on sourceforge).

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3 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby 11h

This is pretty fascinating. I was on the fence about watching it after reading your review, but it seems like it would be worth it.

2 sats \ 1 reply \ @j7hB75 11h
But the detail of Hal taking time off during this key timeframe is more evidence supporting his early contribution to Bitcoin as the first contributing developer (also evidence of this seen on sourceforge).

I agree. The two months away from PGP was compelling. He might not have been the singular contributor to Bitcoin but was definitely involved and contributed. Hence why Satoshi being more than one person makes more sense.

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I kinda like this angle of thought.

Hal may not have been the first Satoshi, but he defiantly was the first Bitcoin dev contributor (sourceforge confirms this).

between v0.0 and v0.1 there was also double the code, maybe a lot of that was Hal's contribution.

Hal also troubleshooted bugs with Satoshi via private email at network launch, with the v0.1 client

soon after, he said he'd be moving on to Satoshi by email, and by all evidence he left the space entirely, only to return years latter on the bitcointalk forums/reddit when Satoshi had already left.

But it's possible Hal assumed a "Satoshi" account on the forums or emails to help privately during this time when he apparently wasn't involved anymore. it's possible, but still, not the original Satoshi.

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Nice review. Sounds like it was better than Money Electric, and the New York Times article.

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better for sure. even had some authentic emotional moments and pacing. well worth the watch

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126 sats \ 0 replies \ @j7hB75 11h
The timing shape matching Satoshi with Len was interesting.

Yep, I liked this approach as well despite it not being conclusive. I'm not sure anything can really be done that would be conclusive unless you were able to move the coins and even then that's not 100% conclusive albeit potentially detrimental in doing so.

Unfortunately, this film suffers from the same logical flaw as the recent New York Times article. They start with known candidates first and try to fit them in to Satoshi frame.
When it's very likely Satoshi is an entirely unknown non public figure. Who by the way, could still be alive.

Good call outs. Thinking outside of the box might have been an interesting approach here.

One disturbing aspect of this film I found was that the investigators explicit intention to finger Satoshi via making them move coins somehow.

Another good call out. I didn't like this approach at all.

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Spoiler alert. WTF?

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added one, sorry

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It's in the title.

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it's also all over twitter and social media. in any case, you may want to watch the film to find the details yourself and verify. it's hal, but not really.

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2 sats \ 7 replies \ @DarrelXero 11h -5 sats

Dick move regardless.

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @anon 7h

I'm so tired of these claims.

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its kinda fun at this point. we could make a satoshi bingo drinking game out of it.

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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @anon 7h

tks

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3 sats \ 1 reply \ @fred 7h

The distinction between honoring Hal’s legacy and the actual technical timeline of Bitcoin’s launch is an important one to maintain

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agreed, very difficult to do for a mass market doc

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