Cryptographer who reviewed Bitcoin's code before its public release
Ray Dillinger is a computer scientist known by his online handles “bear” and “cryddit.” He studied computer science at the University of Kansas and has been active in the cryptography and cypherpunk communities for decades. He is one of two people — along with Hal Finney — known to have reviewed Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin source code before its public release.
In late 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto shared Bitcoin’s source code privately with a small number of people before the public release in January 2009. Dillinger conducted a security audit of the code, examining it for potential vulnerabilities and attack vectors. Hal Finney simultaneously reviewed the code from a different perspective. In a later BitcoinTalk post, Dillinger recalled spending approximately two weeks reviewing the code, focusing on ways the system might be exploited.
Dillinger has been connected to the origin of Bitcoin’s 1 MB block size limit, one of the most debated parameters in Bitcoin’s history. In later public statements, he described how early discussions about potential denial-of-service attacks led to consideration of limiting block size to prevent spam transactions from overwhelming the network.
Dillinger participated in the cryptography mailing list discussion about Bitcoin in November 2008, posting under the name “Ray Dillinger.” His posts engaged with the technical details of Bitcoin’s design, including questions about the incentive structure and security model.
In September 2017, Dillinger published a reflective post on BitcoinTalk titled “If I’d known then what I know now,” in which he discussed what he might have done differently had he understood Bitcoin’s future significance. He reflected on the early code review process and the design decisions that shaped Bitcoin’s development. In an October 2022 interview with security researcher SerHack, Dillinger provided additional details about the pre-release review process and his early interactions with Satoshi.
4 entries
Satoshi responds to Ray Dillinger's 35% inflation claim, explaining how difficulty adjustment keeps production constant and how transaction fees provide an alternative incentive.
Ray Dillinger's retrospective on his role in Bitcoin's earliest days: reviewing the blockchain code, his division of labor with Hal Finney, and his reflections on Satoshi's integrity.
Tim Swanson's comprehensive interview with Ray Dillinger for the Bitcoin whitepaper's 10th anniversary. Dillinger reveals technical details of his code review, including the floating-point discovery.
SerHack analyzed a pre-release Bitcoin genesis block dated September 10, 2008 — found in source code Satoshi shared in November 2008. The date matched Lehman's $3.9B loss report.