Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Electronic currency vision (CC'd publicly)

This email was CC’d to both bitcoin-list@lists.sourceforge.net and the Cryptography mailing list at metzdowd.com, making it a public message. It was a polished version of Satoshi’s earlier private email to Trammell, with some content reorganized and a key addition.

Satoshi quoted Trammell’s earlier observation about valuing bitcoins and shared his vision:

I would be surprised if 10 years from now we’re not using electronic currency in some way, now that we know a way to do it that won’t inevitably get dumbed down when the trusted third party gets cold feet.

He described Bitcoin’s potential in niche applications — reward points, donation tokens, game currency, micropayments, and proof-of-work applications. He reiterated the pay-to-send email concept and subscription trial use cases.

The email contains what became one of Satoshi’s most famous lines:

It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Once it gets bootstrapped, there are so many applications if you could effortlessly pay a few cents to a website as easily as dropping coins in a vending machine.

This public email, originating from Satoshi’s private correspondence with Trammell, became one of the most frequently cited Satoshi writings in Bitcoin history. The same reply is also read, in an analysis of Satoshi’s communication patterns, as the moment Satoshi engaged Hal Finney’s earlier $10-million-per-coin speculation only obliquely — reaching the topic without ever directly acknowledging Finney’s specific prediction.