Fun

Celebrating the Seminal Bitcoin White Paper Satoshi Nakamoto Published 13 Years Ago Today

News Feed - 2021-11-01 02:11:09

Celebrating the Seminal Bitcoin White Paper Satoshi Nakamoto Published 13 Years Ago Today


All around the world cryptocurrency supporters and proponents of blockchain technology are celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper. The summary of the inventor’s creation was published on metzdowd.com’s Cryptography Mailing List on Halloween 2008, as it gave birth to an asset with a market valuation of over $1 trillion and sparked the creation of over 10,000+ cryptocurrencies that followed Satoshi Nakamoto’s innovative design. Introducing the Proof-of-Work Chain: A Solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem


13 years ago at approximately 2:10 p.m. (EDT), Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper, a summary of the innovative network and native cryptocurrency that changed the world. The 12-part white paper starts off with an indented paragraph called an abstract which explains that Bitcoin is a “purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash [that] would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.”


When the paper was first published, academia and computer scientists worldwide were not aware that Bitcoin’s inventor solved a problem that had plagued computer scientists for years — the “Byzantine Generals Problem” or the “Byzantine Fault.” Two weeks after Nakamoto published the white paper on Halloween 2008, he told the pseudonymous member of metzdowd.com’s Cryptography Mailing List, James A. Donald, the inventor solved the problem. Nakamoto said on November 13, 2008: The proof-of-work chain is a solution to the Byzantine generals’ problem.


The benefits of Nakamoto’s paper were clear and the advantages of triple-entry bookkeeping became apparent to people who studied the inventor’s paper and witnessed the launch of the network on January 3, 2009. Satoshi also told Donald a few days earlier, that the “proof-of-work chain is the solution to the synchronisation problem, and to knowing what the globally shared view is without having to trust anyone.” Triple-Entry Bookkeeping: Nakamoto’s Bitcoin Invention Has Forever Changed the World


Since then, Nakamoto’s paper gave birth to the Bitcoin network and the myriad of blockchains that followed. Moreover, the white paper is leveraged in academia quite a bit these days as it is referenced in many crypto network white papers and cited 17,201 times on Google Scholar. It is safe to say there hasn’t been another white paper as prolific and innovative as Nakamoto’s since its release on October 31, 2008. It quite literally invoked the next level of ledger accounting systems as triple-entry bookkeeping — in contrast to single and double-ledger systems — offers a concept that is nearly trustless, if we remove trusting the autonomous system. Bitcoin’s monetary policy according to the Bitcoin white paper. Image by @anilsaidso.


Bitcoin transactions are pseudonymous and users can add as much privacy as they want as the system offers both public transparency and privacy at its core. “The traditional banking model achieves a level of privacy by limiting access to information to the parties involved and the trusted third party,” the Bitcoin white paper details. “The necessity to announce all transactions publicly precludes this method, but privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information in another place: by keeping public keys anonymous.”


Just as the printing press changed society for the better and allowed people to learn without an apprenticeship and just as the combustion engine made traveling a whole lot faster, Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin invention is one that has forever changed the world. The “Longest Proof-of-Work Chain.” Excerpt from Satoshi’s Bitcoin white paper published on Oct. 31, 2008.


In the beginning skeptics, bankers, and governments mocked and laughed at the nascent technology and in time they even tried to attack crypto’s exponential growth. These days, the biggest financial institutions in the world are trying to adapt to Nakamoto’s concepts and governments are trying to produce their own versions of blockchain technology.


The white paper is now a very important paper that is hosted on the websites of large corporations, city web portals, and cited as one of “the seminal works” of computer science. On Lex Fridman’s podcast at the end of April 2020, Twitter CEO and Square co-founder, Jack Dorsey, told Fridman the white paper is like “poetry.”


“I think the Bitcoin whitepaper is one of the most seminal works of computer science in the last 20 or 30 years,” Dorsey said.


Bitcoin.com News readers that are interested in reading the innovative Bitcoin white paper can read Satoshi Nakamoto’s famous paper in its entirety here.


What do you think about the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Mark Cuban and Voyager CEO Advise How to Get Into Crypto, Offer Tips for New Investors FEATURED | 4 mins ago The Many Facts That Indicate Bitcoin"s Creator Satoshi Nakamoto Won"t Ever Come Back FEATURED | 4 days ago Tags in this story 12-page paper, Bitcoin, Bitcoin White Paper, BTC, Byzantine Generals" Problem, cryptographic proof, Cypherpunks, free markets, Halloween, Jack Dorsey, James A. Donald, Lex Fridman, liberty, metzdowd.com, Oct. 31, Peer-to-peer, Satoshi Nakamoto, triple-entry accounting, White Paper


Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Bitcoin White Paper, Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article. Read disclaimerShow comments

News Feed

China Fines Bitmain $3.6 Million for Tax Violations, Report
China Fines Bitmain $3.6 Million for Tax Violations, Report Chinese authorities have fined leading crypto mining hardware manufacturer Bitmain for tax-related violations, local med
Bitcoin volatility ‘ramping up’ above ATH levels as price retests $62K
Ciaran Lyons6 hours agoBitcoin volatility ‘ramping up’ above ATH levels as price retests $62KBitcoin’s volatility is now higher than it was on the day of its all-time high in March, with traders suggesting this cou
Bitcoin Interest-Bearing Accounts Were Conceived Over 10 Years Ago, but the Idea Took 8 Years to Catch On
Bitcoin Interest-Bearing Accounts Were Conceived Over 10 Years Ago, but the Idea Took 8 Years to Catch On While decentralized finance (defi) has created a plethora of protocols tha
Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Moves Lower as Prices Fail to Break Out of Key Resistance Level
Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Moves Lower as Prices Fail to Break Out of Key Resistance Level Bitcoin was trading lower in today’s session, after failing to brea
Investment Adviser Warns It’s a Mistake to Ignore Crypto Assets, Predicts Cryptocurrencies Will Outperform Equities
Investment Adviser Warns It"s a Mistake to Ignore Crypto Assets, Predicts Cryptocurrencies Will Outperform Equities Blueprint Capital Advisors CEO Jacob Walthour says it’s a
Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure Provider Lancium to Bolster Battery-Powered Demand Response at 25 MW Texas-Based Facility
Bitcoin Mining Infrastructure Provider Lancium to Bolster Battery-Powered Demand Response at 25 MW Texas-Based Facility According to Lancium Inc., a crypto mining infrastructure fi
Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidates Recent Losses to Start the Weekend 
Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidates Recent Losses to Start the Weekend  Bitcoin consolidated recent losses on March 4, as cryptocurrency markets marginally stab
Biggest Movers: ADA Nears 1-Week Peak, as MATIC Moves to Highest Point Since September
Biggest Movers: ADA Nears 1-Week Peak, as MATIC Moves to Highest Point Since September Cardano closed in on a one-week high to start the week, as the token climbed for a fourth st
Savannah Fortis9 hours agoCrypto news site The Block shakes off SBF ties with Foresight Ventures dealThe Block bagged a $70 million valuation after it sold a majority stake to a Singapore-based venture capital firm, seve
Cryptocurrency Is Picking up Steam in Small Cities in India: Report
Cryptocurrency Is Picking up Steam in Small Cities in India: Report Cryptocurrency usage and trading are experiencing a boom in India, and most of this growth is coming from small
The Digital Chamber pens letter to Vice President Kamala Harris
Vince Quill6 hours agoThe Digital Chamber pens letter to Vice President Kamala Harris“Over 50 million Americans own crypto,” the advocacy letter states while calling on Kamala Harris to deviate from the Democrats’
Brayden Lindrea5 hours agoEthereum staking services agree to 22% limit of all validatorsThe 22% self-limit rule ensures at least four major staking entities would need to collude in order for the chain to reach finalizat