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 (threadPosition 9), 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.
Source: Published by Dustin Trammell in November 2013. Also archived on the Cryptography mailing list and bitcoin-list. The full private correspondence is on the Bitcoin Wiki at en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Source:Trammell/Nakamoto_emails.