Len Sassaman: HBO Claims Bitcoin Creator Left 24-Word Suicide Note

HBO’s documentary speculates Len Sassaman, the renowned cryptographer who died by suicide in 2011, could be Satoshi Nakamoto. Len Sassaman allegedly left a “24-word” suicide note sparking wallet seed phrase speculation. However, Satoshi posted in 2014—three years after Sassaman’s death—ruling him out, and Sassaman publicly criticized Bitcoin’s lack of anonymity.

HBO’s Documentary Speculation About Len Sassaman

HBO’s upcoming documentary “Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery” directed by Cullen Hoback hints at the possibility that Len Sassaman could have been Satoshi Nakamoto. Hoback previously directed “Q: Into the Storm,” which convincingly identified who had been posing as the secret informant “Q,” lending credibility to his investigative approach.

A consensus emerged among crypto circles that the documentary would argue cryptographer Len Sassaman was the man behind the original cryptocurrency. This speculation gained traction on Polymarket where Sassaman became the leading candidate for Satoshi’s identity. A memecoin named after Sassaman’s cat briefly surged on Pump.Fun, demonstrating market reaction to the theory despite lack of confirmation.

The documentary’s premiere on October 8, 2024 was poised to reignite discussions about Satoshi’s true identity. Whether Len Sassaman was Nakamoto or not, his contributions to cryptography and privacy remain undeniable. HBO’s investigation brings renewed attention to a tragic figure whose work influenced modern digital privacy technologies.

Who Was Len Sassaman?

Len Sassaman was a renowned cryptographer and privacy advocate who became a central figure in the cypherpunk movement. During his late teens, he became involved with the cypherpunks in San Francisco, joining a mailing list starting around 1999 that also included Julian Assange, Adam Back, Craig Wright, and Nick Szabo—many of whom have been Satoshi candidates at various times.

Len Sassaman worked on important privacy projects like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) software and GNU Privacy Guard. He focused on secure communication technologies, particularly remailers that allowed anonymous message sending. This work addressed challenges similar to Bitcoin’s Byzantine General’s Problem, though applied to different use cases. Sassaman collaborated with Hal Finney, another prominent Satoshi candidate, on remailer technology.

In 2004, Len Sassaman entered graduate study under digital cash pioneer David Chaum, whose work in the 1970s laid foundations for cryptocurrency development. He co-founded the SaaS startup Osogato with his wife, computer scientist Meredith Patterson. At the time of his death in 2011, he was a doctoral student in electrical engineering at KU Leuven in Belgium.

A memorial to Len Sassaman was encoded into the Bitcoin blockchain following his death, demonstrating the community’s respect for his contributions. This commemoration involved embedding an ASCII portrait and remembrance directly into blockchain data, ensuring his legacy would persist as long as Bitcoin exists.

Len Sassaman’s Key Contributions

PGP and GNU Privacy Guard: Developed critical encryption software protecting digital communications

Remailer Technology: Created anonymous message systems with Hal Finney

Cypherpunk Movement: Core member of influential privacy advocacy community

Academic Research: Studied under David Chaum, cryptocurrency conceptual founder

“If it was Len, it was someone who was on the forefront of personal privacy technology, and was active under all these different pseudonyms. There are things that we may never know about his life,” noted Evan Hatch, who first floated the Sassaman-as-Satoshi theory in 2021.

Evidence Supporting The Len Sassaman Theory

The Len Sassaman-as-Satoshi theory originated from a well-researched Medium post by former VC Evan Hatch in 2021. Hatch’s arguments were compelling enough to warrant serious consideration, including several pieces of circumstantial evidence connecting Sassaman to Bitcoin’s creation.

Len Sassaman was an American living in Europe at the time of the Bitcoin whitepaper—and that’s a core element of Hatch’s theory. Both Len and Satoshi exhibited elements of British English in their writing, and Satoshi posted at what would have been daytime in Belgium where Sassaman resided. The cypherpunks familiar with principles that would become Bitcoin were largely Americans, making few candidates who squared this geographic circle. Sassaman was one.

The timing of Satoshi’s posts spiking during academic breaks aligns with Len Sassaman’s graduate studies starting in 2004 under David Chaum. This correlation suggests whoever Satoshi was maintained commitments that constrained posting time, with breaks providing extended availability for Bitcoin development and community engagement.

Len Sassaman’s impressive academic record and expertise in cryptography provided technical capabilities required for Bitcoin’s creation. His work on remailers and public key cryptography demonstrated understanding of distributed systems and cryptographic protocols central to Bitcoin’s architecture.

The intriguing detail of Len Sassaman reportedly leaving a suicide note with “24 random words” sparked speculation in the crypto community. Modern cryptocurrency wallets use 24-word seed phrases for account recovery. Could Sassaman’s final message have been wallet access instructions? This tantalizing detail remains unverified but adds mysterious element to the theory.

Satoshi Nakamoto went silent in April 2011, just two months before Len Sassaman’s death in July 2011. This temporal correlation fuels speculation about connection between events. The $64 billion in Bitcoin held by Nakamoto has never been touched, adding to mystery surrounding the creator’s identity and potential fate.

Why Len Sassaman Isn’t Satoshi Nakamoto

Despite compelling circumstantial evidence, clear reasons indicate Len Sassaman couldn’t be Satoshi Nakamoto. The most definitive evidence comes from chronology that many Sassaman theorists overlook or dismiss.

The really simple reason that Len Sassaman isn’t Satoshi, grim though it may be, is that Satoshi was still alive in 2014—three years after Sassaman’s death. When Newsweek published its disastrously wrong identification of Dorian Nakamoto as Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi briefly posted from a confirmed account stating he was not Dorian Nakamoto. This 2014 post definitively rules out Len Sassaman as Satoshi, unless one believes in posthumous social media activity.

Len Sassaman explicitly criticized Bitcoin for its lack of anonymity. Sassaman’s primary concern throughout his career was true digital privacy, while Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous—distinctions that aren’t remotely the same thing as we’ve learned in years since Bitcoin’s creation. Would the creator of Bitcoin publicly criticize his own creation’s fundamental privacy limitations? This seems inconsistent with the Satoshi persona.

While Len Sassaman worked on secure communication technologies, he wasn’t involved in the e-cash project whose origins and community stretch back to David Chaum’s work in the 1970s. Bitcoin emerged from decades of digital cash experimentation including b-money, bit gold, and DigiCash. Sassaman’s focus on remailers, while related, operated in different problem space than digital currency creation.

Meredith Patterson, Len Sassaman’s wife, has denied that he was Satoshi. While this isn’t definitive—spouses sometimes aren’t aware of partners’ pseudonymous activities—it carries weight given their close relationship and shared work in cryptography.

Evan Hatch himself made clear at the time his theory was just inferential speculation, not conclusive proof. “And also, I’m just tired of [the search for Satoshi] … it is embarrassing. Let’s focus on the technology,” Hatch told me, revealing his motivation included redirecting attention from Craig Wright’s fraudulent claims rather than definitively solving the Satoshi mystery.

Hatch’s motivations for floating Len Sassaman as Satoshi candidate included compelling evidence but also aimed at getting Craig Wright out of the limelight. “If it were Sassaman, it just says things about what [Satoshi’s] intent was and what his ethos was … You have Craig on the one hand, and [then on the other hand] you have people in the background doing the work and not trying to get too much attention. Reframing this around [those quieter contributors] would be great.”

By and large, informed people in the crypto community moved on from the Sassaman theory very quickly after 2021. Assuming nothing dramatic changed, if HBO does go with the Len Sassaman theory, it likely won’t have substantive impact on the conversation around Satoshi among serious researchers.

The Danger Of Satoshi Identification

The last major attempt to unmask Satoshi was so embarrassing that a full decade passed before someone tried again. In 2014, Newsweek and reporter Leah McGrath Goodman decided that Japanese-American model train enthusiast Dorian Nakamoto was Bitcoin’s creator, based on mind-bogglingly bad research and reasoning—and without considering what their alleged findings might mean for the man getting fingered.

Back in 2014, when Bitcoin’s value was far lower, Dorian only experienced fairly minor annoyances. If McGrath did the same thing today, she’d probably be putting her target’s life and family safety at risk from kidnappers and extortionists who now understand crypto’s value. The $64 billion in untouched Nakamoto Bitcoin creates enormous incentive for criminal targeting of anyone identified as Satoshi.

Strangely enough, it’s thanks to Dorian Nakamoto’s suffering that we can be confident Len Sassaman isn’t Satoshi. Satoshi’s 2014 post denying being Dorian occurred three years after Sassaman’s death, definitively ruling him out unless one believes in supernatural social media access.

FAQ

Did Len Sassaman create Bitcoin?

No. While HBO’s documentary speculates about this possibility and circumstantial evidence exists, definitive proof rules out Len Sassaman as Satoshi. Most importantly, Satoshi posted in 2014—three years after Sassaman’s 2011 death—confirming he was not Dorian Nakamoto.

What was Len Sassaman’s 24-word suicide note?

Reports indicate Len Sassaman’s suicide note contained “24 random words.” Some speculate these could be cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases, but this remains unverified speculation. His wife Meredith Patterson has not confirmed this detail publicly.

When did Satoshi Nakamoto go silent?

Satoshi Nakamoto’s last known posts occurred in April 2011, approximately two months before Len Sassaman’s death in July 2011. However, Satoshi briefly posted again in 2014, ruling out deceased candidates.

Why did Evan Hatch propose the Len Sassaman theory?

Evan Hatch’s 2021 Medium post presented circumstantial evidence but also aimed to redirect attention from Craig Wright’s fraudulent Satoshi claims. Hatch later expressed fatigue with Satoshi speculation, preferring focus on Bitcoin’s technology.

Has Satoshi’s Bitcoin ever been moved?

No. Approximately $64 billion in Bitcoin attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto’s early mining has never been touched or transferred, adding to the mystery surrounding the creator’s identity and fate.

What was Len Sassaman’s contribution to cryptography?

Len Sassaman worked on Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) software, GNU Privacy Guard, and remailer technology with Hal Finney. He was a respected cypherpunk focused on digital privacy and secure communication systems.