10 crypto theories like ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’ have been missed

The crypto industry has fallen far short of a fair amount of speculation and theory than a well-proven smart contract.

From the endless quest to doc Satoshi Nakamoto to the laughably wrong idea that Gary Gensler would be good for crypto, here are some crypto theories and beliefs that are wrong at best.

1. Peter Todd is Satoshi.

Every few months, someone comes forward claiming to have real proof of Nakamoto's identity – or worse, claiming to be the creator of Bitcoin themselves. However, these “discoveries” are revealed over and over again, proving the allure of the mystery more than any hard evidence.

We've seen fake documents, misinterpreted cryptic signatures and linguistic analysis as they try to trace Satoshi's origins – all leading to red herrings and the inevitable public backlash. Some think that the NSA is Satoshi and invented Bitcoin as a honey trap for criminals, while others point to Elon Musk or Neal Stephenson, the author of Snow Crash.

In other words, anyone over the age of 15 with an internet connection in 2008 was suggested to be Satoshi.

The latest rumors are thanks to an HBO documentary this week that named Bitcoin developer Peter Todd as the inventor of Bitcoin. The doc made a lot of hay from some amazing circumstantial evidence, but few people thought it would clear up the mystery of who Satoshi was.

It is not easy to conclusively prove that Todd is not Satoshi, but the evidence for believing that he is Satoshi is not particularly compelling.

In the lead-up to the HBO revelation, Polymarket debaters speculated on who HBO might nominate, from the late cryptographer Len Sassaman to computer scientist Nick Szabo.

In the end, HBO named Todd, who denied the claim… but admitted it was Craig Wright.

Related: Everything HBO's Bitcoin Documentary About Peter Todd and Satoshi Goes Wrong

2. Gary Gensler's crypto expertise means he's good for Bitcoin.

Gary Gensler, once heralded as a beacon of hope in the crypto community, took over as chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on April 17, 2021.

Gensler's appointment was initially met with excitement, with industry participants expressing relief that an MIT blockchain professor at the helm seemed to understand cryptocurrency well.

How naive we were.

In the end, Professor Gensler was less about blockchain-friendliness and rulebook thumping.

If Donald Trump is elected, he has promised to remove Gensler before his term as SEC chairman ends in 2026. If that happens, his crypto legacy will be marked by a contentious regulation-enforcement approach aimed at major industry players and often held accountable. Driving key talent abroad.

Despite his best efforts, Gensler's tenure saw the approval of the first Bitcoin exchange to trade in the US, proving that no one can stop the tide of growth.

Also Read: 11 Critical Moments in Ethereum History That Made the No. 2 Blockchain

3. CryptoKitties and NFTs are the future: The Metaverse is coming.

In the year Launched in November 2017, CryptoKitties quickly became a cultural phenomenon and introduced the concept of non-perishable tokens (NFT) to the wider blockchain community.

The CryptoKitties frenzy saw investors chasing these digital cats like real-life treasures, but the excitement quickly faded.

The most expensive CryptoKitty was purchased in September 2019 for 600 ETH, which was worth around $172,000 at the time. This was a defining moment that showed NFTs could be more than JPEGs for nerds.

Today, in 2024, 600 ETH is roughly $1.5 million, with an average CryptoKitty price of $21.

Bored Up Yacht Club followed and was once a status symbol for the world's biggest stars, such as rap legend Emim and NBA star Stephen Curry. As of October 9, the floor price of BoardApps has dropped to 10.83 ETH, from a high of 153 ETH.

In the year Sometime in 2021, digital ownership through NFTs was said to usher in the age of measurement – ​​a concept that turned into full hype when Facebook changed its name to Meta and burned billions of dollars on the concept.

The slow adoption of VR hardware and the end of the NFT bubble, however, has seen interest in the metaverse… although some true believers still think it's a long time coming.

4. Sam Bankman-Fried is a hero who takes crypto mainstream.

Sam Bankman-Fried was once the white knight of the crypto community, given the keys to save SushiSwap and stepping in to bail out companies during the collapse of Terra-Luna and Three Arrows Capital.

His platform, FTX, has been hailed as an innovator and at the forefront of crypto's mainstream adoption process, focusing on attracting sports fans through high-profile sponsorships. With magazine coverage and political prominence, Bankman-Fried was becoming a household name that seemed poised to destroy the tarnished industry.

But the exact opposite happened. At the end of 2022, the veil fell. Reports of FTX's use of client funds for risky trades by Alameda Research — Bankman-Fried's other venture — have exposed a fear-driven bank run. Desperate, he turned to Binance for bail, and for a moment hope flew. However, after seeing FTX's books, Binance backed off.

Days later, FTX declared bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO and is now serving a 25-year prison sentence, whose crimes put crypto out of business for at least 18 months.

5. Algorithmic stablecoins are a new financial paradigm.

The crypto community was eagerly on board the UST (TerraUSD) ship, with support from industry figures calling it an unsinkable algorithmically stable coin.

Galaxy Digital billionaire Mike Novogratz has invested heavily in the Terra Luna ecosystem and has given the project a thumbs up.

But like the Titanic, UST met an iceberg in May 2022, when toxic market volatility and some dubious transactions led to a grim revelation.

UST is designed to maintain a fixed value of $1 through a mint-and-burn algorithm similar to its sister token Luna. The concept caught fire, and investors hailed it as a DeFi game-changer.

But when a large-scale sell-off occurred, the system's stability mechanism broke down, logically creating Luna. To maximize UST. The circular bond system became a death knell that sent the UST below the dollar peg, wiping out billions in value and crushing investor dreams.

After this, Terra's founder, Do Kwon, fled and was arrested in Montenegro for forging documents, and Terraform Labs was sued by the SEC and ended up in the billions.

6. McAfee pre-dicks Bitcoin will reach 1 million dollars

John McPhee, one of the tech world's brightest characters, has made some of the boldest — and most surprising — bets in cryptocurrency history. In 2017, he publicly announced that Bitcoin would hit $500,000 by the end of 2020 or eat his own penis on live television.

He then doubled down and raised the price estimate to $1 million to avoid being eaten by the broadcaster.

As the deadline approaches, Bitcoin's price is nowhere near the million dollar mark or half a million dollar mark, and the crypto community will be eagerly watching McAfee's next move.

In true McAfee fashion, he eventually dismissed betting as a public venture, calling it a “trick” to draw attention to cryptocurrency.

In the year In 2019, McAfee was arrested on charges related to tax evasion, and in He was found dead in a Spanish prison while awaiting extradition to the United States in 2021. His death was ruled a suicide.

Former Chief Technology Officer of Coinbase Balaji Srinivasan made a bet that Bitcoin will hit $1 million in 90 days on March 17, 2023.

As of October 9, Bitcoin has yet to reach $1 million.

7. Vitalik Buterin is dead

Rumors of Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin's disappearance were greatly exaggerated in 2017 when a viral post claimed he had died in a car accident.

With no official news sources to confirm or deny the claim, panic ensued, and the price of Ethereum immediately nosedived, wiping out billions in market value as investors reacted to the unconfirmed story.

The speculation became so intense that Buterin himself was forced to tackle Ethereum in a different way.

A photo on social media recently posted a piece of paper with an Ethereum block number, basically using the blockchain as a time stamp to prove it's alive and well.

8. Hold on for dear life

HODL has become a rallying cry for crypto enthusiasts who say ‘Hold for Life' by capturing the high excitement of crypto's popular volatility.

This interpretation fully agrees with the sentiments of many in the crypto space who support themselves with wild price fluctuations, believing that patience will eventually be rewarded when they turn millions of people into worthless tokens of $ 6.35.

As it happens, the word HODL was just a typo.

It first appeared on the Bitcoin forum in 2013, when user GameKyuubi, in a drunken post titled “I AM HODLING,” accidentally talked about the challenges of investing during a market crash with the title “Hold on.”

The first post wasn't encouraging blind determination, but rather expressing frustration and determination to overcome that particular failure.

Also Read: Bitcoin HODL Waves: 2020 Bull Market Buyers Now Control 16% of Supply

9. Facebook is going to revolutionize global payments with cryptocurrency.

For a while there, Facebook's Libra was announced as a cryptocurrency project that would take space major and global.

Libra was said to be the new currency to rule them all, challenging even the global supremacy of the US dollar. Facebook's (now Meta) plan for a global digital currency seems set for success, alongside heavyweights like MasterCard, Visa and PayPal.

But regulators quickly rained on the parade, raising concerns about data privacy, financial sovereignty and money laundering.

Faced with such opposition, Libra's early supporters began to jump ship. Within months, key partners left, taking Libra's credibility with them.

In order to survive, Facebook named the project DiM and promoted it as a stable coin exposed to the dollar peg. But even this renaming could not escape regulatory limbo.

Eventually, the troubled project was abandoned in 2010. In early 2022, it was sold to Silvergate Capital, and in September 2024, Silvergate itself declared bankruptcy. Libra – or Diem, as it was later known – proved that even Facebook could not force itself to exist without a new global currency. Facing huge opposition.

But the Move language, which Facebook spent a billion dollars developing, lives on in projects like Aptos, Sui, and Move.

10. Amazon is definitely going to accept Bitcoin this time!

Every so often, the crypto world buzzes with rumors that Amazon is finally going to accept Bitcoin.

The massive impact of e-commerce is enough to trigger tons of tweets, imaginations and daydreams about filling Amazon carts with digital gold. For a short while, crypto enthusiasts felt that mainstream adoption was just the checkout button.

But with time and time again, Amazon has outright denied the rumors or remained silent, the prospect dimmed. While the company has posted interesting blockchain-related work and filed patents, it hasn't made any moves to accept bitcoin.

Instead, Amazon seems more interested in exploring blockchain behind the scenes for supply chain or financial purposes than for consumer payments.

Amazon still does not accept Bitcoin.

Until then, you can find a local business that does — or head to El Salvador, where Bitcoin is king. Or, you know, HODL a little harder.

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John Yun

Yohan Yun is a multimedia journalist who has been reporting on blockchain since 2017. He has contributed to the crypto media outlet Forkast as an editor and covered Asian tech stories as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking and experimenting with new recipes.