Who is Len Sassaman? The man leading Polymarket’s Bitcoin founder market

While HBO’s documentary promises to reveal the creator of Bitcoin, punters at Polymarket are speculating on whether Len Sassaman is the real Satoshi Nakamoto.

Len Sassaman, a relatively unknown name outside cryptography or cryptocurrency circles, has emerged as a key figure in ongoing speculation about the true identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

With an upcoming HBO documentary making an announcement, punters at Polymarket, a prediction market platform, are betting heavily that Sassaman could be behind the moniker that introduced Bitcoin (BTC) to the world.

Polymarket allows users to bet on various events, and speculations about the founder of Bitcoin are currently one of the most discussed topics. Bookmakers currently think there is a 46% chance that Sassaman will be referred to as Satoshi in the documentary.

Who was Len Sassaman?

Sassaman, who died in 2011, was a cryptographer known for his contributions to privacy and decentralization. He worked on tools like Mixmaster, an email anonymizer that protects users’ identities and is deeply embedded in the cryptography community.

His connection to Hal Finney, one of the first Bitcoin developers and the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi, adds another layer to the speculation.

In 2008, Satoshi published the whitepaper that laid out the basis for Bitcoin. While the digital currency was gaining momentum, Satoshi disappeared in 2011. Months later, Sassaman passed away; His wife reported his death as a suicide.

Some believe that Sassaman’s death may be linked to Satoshi’s disappearance; Conspiracy theories suggest that Sassaman may have taken his life to protect his privacy and Satoshi’s identity.

Although Len Sassaman is ahead in the Polymarket betting, other candidates include Hal Finney, who holds 11% of the bets. Finney was one of the first contributors to Bitcoin’s codebase and a leading figure in the world of cryptography.

Despite all this speculation, many people remain skeptical. Another contract with Polymarket shows that 83% of punters believe the documentary will not be able to conclusively prove Satoshi’s identity this year.