It has been 10 years since Bitcoin's first appearance (the registration of the bitcoin.org domain) and we still don't really know much about its creator.
Where did Bitcoin come from? Who created it and why? What is its purpose? Could one person have really created it?
The first public appearance of Bitcoin was made in January 2009, when a person or group going by the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto released the open source code for the software. It unveiled the very first block of the Bitcoin blockchain and left what has been variously interpreted as a statement, a clue, or a means of marking the date: ‘The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.’
We believe this is a reference to a headline in The Times newspaper from that date. While it’s possible that Nakamoto just picked the first headline they saw on the nearest newspaper, and it was totally random, cryptocurrency enthusiasts tend to unanimously see it as a statement of intent. At the time, the 2008 financial crisis was still unravelling. Thus, many assume that Bitcoin was, at least in part, a reaction to the widespread anger and frustration at the existing financial system.
While sources say the code for Bitcoin was written in 2007, the first known hint of its existence comes from August 2008, when someone registered the domain name for ‘bitcoin.org.’ A few months later, subscribers to an email list about cryptography received a paper entitled ‘ Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’ with the name ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ listed as the author.
The first transaction
Hal Finney, a well-known cypherpunk who was heavily involved in the community, received the first transaction. In a forum post from March 2013, Finney reflected on the experience:
‘I have always loved crypto, the mystery and the paradox of it. When Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list, he got a skeptical reception at best...I was more positive. I had long been interested in cryptographic payment schemes. Plus I was lucky enough to meet and extensively correspond with both Wei Dai [creator of b-money] and Nick Szabo [creator of bit gold]... I had made an attempt to create my own proof of work based currency, called RPOW.
So I found Bitcoin fascinating... When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away. I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin. I mined block 70-something, and I was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction, when Satoshi sent ten coins to me as a test. I carried on an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days...Today, Satoshi's true identity has become a mystery. But at the time, I thought I was dealing with a young man of Japanese ancestry who was very smart and sincere. I've had the good fortune to know many brilliant people over the course of my life, so I recognize the signs.’
Exit Nakamoto
In December 2010, Nakamoto passed the baton to software developer Gavin Andresen, thereby decentralising the network for good. They made their final forum post on 12 December, then continued responding sporadically to emails for a little longer, staying in touch with Andresen until at least April - before going quiet for good. Nakamoto reportedly asked Andresen to gloss over his anonymity when publicly discussing Bitcoin.
Although the network was decentralised, control of the code was arguably centralised up until then, as Nakamoto was the only one to make changes to it. As far as we know, Nakamoto has not been involved in any of the changes made since then and has had no further input on their creation.
Do you have any theories of your own?
In our next post, we’ll look at what we know about Satoshi Nakamoto and what their motivations might have been.
Kinkade.
