THE 18TH ANNIVERSARY IS OCTOBER 31
The email that started Bitcoin.
On October 31, 2008, an unknown author called Satoshi Nakamoto shared a nine-page paper with a cryptography mailing list. Here is that email, the debate it started, and what happened next, all from the original sources.
“I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.”Read the full email ↗
103 days from idea to public launch.
- 01The whitepaper is announced
Satoshi emails the Cryptography Mailing List: a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer.
- 0214 replies defending the design
Cryptographers push back on scaling, double-spending and incentives. Satoshi answers each one.
- 03The genesis block ↗
The first block is mined, carrying a newspaper headline about bank bailouts. Verify it on a block explorer.
- 04Bitcoin v0.1 is released
The software ships to the same mailing list, ten weeks after the paper.
- 05The first Bitcoin transaction ↗
Satoshi sends bitcoin to Hal Finney in block 170, the first person-to-person transfer. Verify it on a block explorer.
- 06Bitcoin goes public
Satoshi introduces Bitcoin on the P2P Foundation forum to a wider audience.
Continue the story on the full Bitcoin timeline →
Every reply Satoshi wrote about the paper.
>Satoshi Nakamoto wrote: >> I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully >> peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party. >> >> The paper is available at: >> http://www.bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf > >We ver…
>> As long as honest nodes control the most CPU power on the network, >> they can generate the longest chain and outpace any attackers. > >But they don't. Bad guys routinely control zombie farms of 100,000 >machines o…
>[Lengthy exposition of vulnerability of a systm to use-of-force >monopolies ellided.] > >You will not find a solution to political problems in cryptography. Yes, but we can win a major battle in the arms race and gai…
Ray Dillinger: > the "currency" is inflationary at about 35% > as that's how much faster computers get annually > ... the inflation rate of 35% is almost guaranteed > by the technology Increasing hardware speed is han…
Hal Finney wrote: > it is mentioned that if a broadcast transaction does not reach all nodes, > it is OK, as it will get into the block chain before long. How does this > happen - what if the node that creates the "ne…
James A. Donald wrote: > The core concept is that lots of entities keep complete and consistent > information as to who owns which bitcoins. > > But maintaining consistency is tricky. It is not clear to me what > happ…
James A. Donald wrote: >OK, suppose one node incorporates a bunch of >transactions in its proof of work, all of them honest >legitimate single spends and another node incorporates a >different bunch of transactions in…
James A. Donald wrote: > Furthermore, it cannot be made to work, as in the > proposed system the work of tracking who owns what coins > is paid for by seigniorage, which requires inflation. If you're having trouble wi…
James A. Donald wrote: > So what happened to the coin that lost the race? > > ... it is a bit harsh if the guy who came second > is likely to lose his coin. When there are multiple double-spent versions of the same tr…
James A. Donald wrote: > It is not sufficient that everyone knows X. We also > need everyone to know that everyone knows X, and that > everyone knows that everyone knows that everyone knows X > - which, as in the Byza…
Hal Finney wrote: > I think it is necessary that nodes keep a separate > pending-transaction list associated with each candidate chain. > ... One might also ask ... how many candidate chains must > a given node keep t…
I'll try and hurry up and release the sourcecode as soon as possible to serve as a reference to help clear up all these implementation questions. Ray Dillinger (Bear) wrote: > When a coin is spent, the buyer and selle…
Ray Dillinger wrote: > One way to do this would be > to have the person recieving the coin generate an asymmetric > key pair, and then have half of it published with the > transaction. In order to spend the coin later…
James A. Donald wrote: > > Fortunately, it's only necessary to keep a > > pending-transaction pool for the current best branch. > > This requires that we know, that is to say an honest > well behaved peer whose commun…
This day in Bitcoin history.
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