Martti Malmi's own archive of his private 2009–2011 email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, published on GitHub in 2024 for the COPA v. Wright trial.
285 entries / 3 threads
Satoshi's last email in the Malmi archive (Feb 22, 2011). Reply to Gavin (Martti in third person), handing over the bitcoin-list mailman password as PGP blocks to each.
Gavin warns that distributing the forum database would betray registered users' trust, supports daily PGP-encrypted backups, and offers to pay for Amazon S3 storage if backups stay under a gigabyte.
When Malmi asks who should take over Bitcoin development, Satoshi recommends Gavin Andresen as 'responsible, professional' — early signal of the transition formalized by the December 12 SVN handover.
Satoshi warns Malmi to de-emphasize Bitcoin's anonymity claims, distinguishing between anonymity and pseudonymity - a prescient warning about privacy expectations.
Liberty Standard notifies Satoshi that the Bitcoin website is down, showing a bitweaver TEST mode warning instead of the normal page.
Satoshi emphasizes that autostart with minimize-to-tray is 'a must-have feature' for network growth, comparing it to early file-sharing strategies. Implemented by Malmi for Bitcoin 0.2.
Malmi proposes creating a Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange service, detailing pricing formulas and profit mechanisms. This led to one of the first Bitcoin exchanges and the historic first BTC-to-USD sale.
Satoshi suggests using the word 'cryptocurrency' to describe Bitcoin and asks Malmi to remove investment language from the site - a key moment in Bitcoin's branding history.
Satoshi and Malmi spent 2009 to 2010 correcting the bitcoin.org FAQ word by word — and Satoshi was still the address readers wrote to when it broke. None of that wording survives on bitcoin.org today.
Satoshi reviews Malmi's FAQ draft and warns against framing Bitcoin as an investment, stating 'we can't pitch it as that' - a historically significant stance on Bitcoin's positioning.
Satoshi addresses concerns about Bitcoin's energy consumption, arguing it would be far less than traditional banking while acknowledging the tension between economic liberty and conservation.
Malmi agrees to develop the Bitcoin website and FAQ, proposes password-protected private keys, and reports running a Bitcoin node 24/7.
Satoshi's first reply to Martti Malmi, who had offered to help with Bitcoin. Satoshi praises Malmi's understanding of Bitcoin and asks him to help write website content and a FAQ.
Martti Malmi's first message to Satoshi: introduces himself as Trickstern from the anti-state.com forum, offers to help with Bitcoin development.