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Entries of this type, gathered from across the archive. Use the type axis to compare communication formats over time.
164 entries
Anonymous Plaintiff Seeks Legal Title to $293 Billion in Dormant Bitcoin, Without Holding Any Private Keys
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
An anonymous plaintiff sues 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses holding ~3.8M BTC under New York's lost-property statute (March 2026). Galaxy Digital ties 21,923 of them to the Patoshi pattern.
Finney + Sassaman 'Satoshi co-creators' theory — Finding Satoshi (April 22, 2026) documentary case and counter-evidence
William D. Cohan
↔ Hal Finney, Len Sassaman, Satoshi Nakamoto, Adam Back, Nick Szabo, Wei Dai, Paul Le Roux
Finding Satoshi (Tooley / Miele, April 2026) names Hal Finney and Len Sassaman as Bitcoin co-creators — Finney coded, Sassaman wrote the paper. Lopp and Back disputed the timing.
Adam Back = Satoshi Nakamoto theory — New York Times 2026 investigation claims and counter-evidence
John Carreyrou
↔ Adam Back, Satoshi Nakamoto, Dorian Nakamoto, Hal Finney, Peter Todd
On April 8, 2026, the New York Times published John Carreyrou's investigation naming Adam Back as the most likely Satoshi based on stylometric analysis. Back denied the identification.
Adam Back: Bitcoin faces no quantum threat for 20–40 years
Adam Back
Blockstream CEO Adam Back stated Bitcoin faces no quantum computing threat for ~20–40 years, pointing to NIST post-quantum signatures like SLH-DSA that Bitcoin can adopt before threats materialize.
Michel Bauwens recalls the bitcoins Satoshi offered him — and the reply he never sent
Michel Bauwens
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
In an April 2025 interview, P2P Foundation founder Michel Bauwens recalled receiving several emails from Satoshi (who offered him a few bitcoins) and gave a retrospective on Bitcoin's significance.
The U.S. government and Satoshi Nakamoto — Murphy v DHS (April 7, 2025) FOIA suit for records of a 2019 DHS-agent claim to have interviewed four people behind Bitcoin
James A. Murphy
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Attorney James A. Murphy filed a 2025 FOIA suit seeking DHS files on Agent Rana Saoud's 2019 claim that investigators interviewed four people believed to be behind Bitcoin.
Mike Hearn reflects on Satoshi's personality and Bitcoin's social failures
Mike Hearn
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
In a CoinGeek interview, Mike Hearn offers rare reflections on Satoshi's personality — observing he enjoyed experimenting but appeared to grow frustrated when evangelical personalities arrived.
James Howells's 7,500 BTC Newport landfill — twelve years of excavation lawsuits
Bitcoin Institute
↔ James Howells
James Howells discarded a hard drive with 7,500 BTC in 2013. It is buried in a Newport, Wales landfill. A UK High Court rejected his £600M excavation suit in January 2025.
Jeff Garzik on Satoshi Nakamoto: 'A Beautiful Mind type lone genius'
Jeff Garzik
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Early Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik released videos detailing his time working with Satoshi, describing the creator as a self-taught, solitary genius who never revealed any personal information.
Peter Todd = Satoshi Nakamoto theory — HBO "Money Electric" claims and counterevidence
Cullen Hoback
↔ Peter Todd, Satoshi Nakamoto, Adam Back
HBO documentary Money Electric (Cullen Hoback) named Peter Todd as a Satoshi candidate, citing a 2010 BitcoinTalk reply about RBF and Todd's later BIP 125. Todd called the claim ludicrous.
Bitcoin Magazine examines the 5-day gap between Genesis Block and Block 1
Pete Rizzo
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Pete Rizzo investigates the unexplained ~5-day, 8-hour gap between the Genesis Block (January 3, 2009) and Block 1 (January 9, 2009), framing it as one of Bitcoin's enduring unsolved mysteries.
Bitcoin Core v0.1 code walkthrough — Forensicxs's 31,794-line analysis
Forensicxs
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Forensicxs published a line-by-line walkthrough of Bitcoin v0.1's 31,794 lines of source code — one of the most detailed public analyses of Satoshi's original codebase, covering all 31 files.
COPA evidence reveals Nicholas Bohm's previously unpublished emails with Satoshi
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Nicholas Bohm, Satoshi Nakamoto
The COPA v Wright record revealed that Nicholas Bohm — previously known only for a January 2009 bitcoin-list bug report — also exchanged a private series of troubleshooting emails with Satoshi.
Satoshi Nakamoto Stylometric Analysis: 'Where is Satoshi?' — Bas van Dorst's 75,000-Author Open-Source Comparison Dataset (April 13, 2024)
Bas van Dorst
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
On April 13, 2024, Bas van Dorst published Where is Satoshi?, a large-scale stylometric corpus comparing Satoshi against 75,000+ cryptography mailing-list authors and 70,000+ Reddit commenters.
COPA trial — Martti Malmi testifies and publishes 260 Satoshi emails
Martti Malmi
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Craig Wright, Adam Back
During Day 13 of COPA v Wright, Martti Malmi testified via video link and submitted 260 emails (140,000 words) exchanged with Satoshi between May 2009 and February 2011, published on GitHub.
Adam Back's biggest regret — he skimmed the Bitcoin whitepaper and ignored it until 2013
Adam Back
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Wei Dai
Adam Back reflects on his August 2008 email exchange with Satoshi, his regret at not reading the whitepaper carefully, and his COPA v Wright testimony where the complete chain became public.
Jameson Lopp: Hal Finney could not have been Satoshi Nakamoto
Jameson Lopp
↔ Hal Finney, Satoshi Nakamoto, Mike Hearn, Martti Malmi
Jameson Lopp argues Hal Finney could not have been Satoshi: on April 18, 2009, Finney was running a 10-mile race in Santa Barbara during a window of Satoshi network activity.
Early January-2009 Bitcoin moves for the first time — but the Patoshi pattern says it wasn't Satoshi's
Blockchain observers
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoins mined in the earliest weeks of Bitcoin's existence in January 2009 are moved for the first time, sparking intense speculation about whether Satoshi Nakamoto is spending coins.
FTX files for bankruptcy — $8 billion in customer funds missing
CNBC
↔ Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX, the world's second-largest crypto exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Founder SBF resigned. ~$8B in customer funds had been misappropriated; he was later sentenced to 25 years.
The alternative genesis block — Satoshi's pre-release test block from September 2008
SerHack
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Ray Dillinger, Hal Finney
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.
Jameson Lopp analyzes whether Satoshi Nakamoto was a 'greedy' miner
Jameson Lopp
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Sergio Demian Lerner
Jameson Lopp shows Satoshi deliberately throttled mining capacity, earning ~1.1M BTC when full capacity could have yielded ~2.19M BTC. Anyone claiming Satoshi was greedy hasn't done the math.
The 2016 Bitfinex hack and the 2022 Razzlekhan arrest — 119,756 BTC stolen, $3.6B recovered, six years of laundering
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Heather Morgan, Ilya Lichtenstein
119,756 BTC stolen from Bitfinex (Aug 2016). DOJ arrested Lichtenstein and Morgan in Feb 2022 and recovered ~94,000 BTC — the largest US financial seizure at the time.
Dustin Trammell recounts being the possible second node on the Bitcoin network
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
In a podcast interview, security researcher Dustin Trammell (Druid) describes being possibly the second node on the Bitcoin network — seeing only one other node for hours after first connecting.
PLOS ONE peer-reviewed study confirms Patoshi mining anomalies in early Bitcoin
Maria Oskarsdottir
↔ Jacky Mallett, Satoshi Nakamoto, Sergio Demian Lerner
Reykjavik University researchers published the first peer-reviewed PLOS ONE study of the Patoshi pattern, identifying two nonce anomalies (P and Z) and finding the P anomaly in all 64 first blocks.
Wright v. Cobra — bitcoin.org whitepaper copyright lawsuit
CoinDesk
↔ Craig Wright, Cobra, Satoshi Nakamoto
Craig Wright sued bitcoin.org operator Cobra over Bitcoin whitepaper copyright. Cobra refused to reveal his identity, resulting in a default judgment ordering bitcoin.org to remove the whitepaper.
"A notorious liar swore he was Satoshi and they made my whitepaper illegal" — Cobra on the bitcoin.org ruling (2021)
Cobra
↔ Craig Wright
After the London High Court ordered bitcoin.org to remove the Bitcoin whitepaper, Cobra responded on Twitter with a critique declaring cryptographic rules superior to court-enforced ones.
Len Sassaman and Satoshi: a Cypherpunk history — Evan Hatch's foundational articulation of the Sassaman = Satoshi hypothesis (February 22, 2021)
Evan Hatch
↔ Len Sassaman, Satoshi Nakamoto, Adam Back, Hal Finney, Peter Todd
On February 22, 2021, Evan Hatch published Len Sassaman and Satoshi: a Cypherpunk history on Medium — the most-cited public articulation of the Sassaman = Satoshi Nakamoto hypothesis.
Analyses estimate Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin holdings at approximately 1.1 million BTC
BitMEX Research
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Sergio Demian Lerner
Multiple blockchain analyses estimate that Satoshi Nakamoto mined approximately 1.1 million bitcoins in Bitcoin's earliest days, with none of these coins having ever been spent.
Stefan Thomas's 7,002 BTC IronKey lockout — two password attempts left, hundreds of millions frozen
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Stefan Thomas
Stefan Thomas was paid 7,002 BTC in 2011 for a Bitcoin explainer video, stored the keys on a 10-attempt IronKey, and lost the password. By the 2021 NYT report, 2 of 10 attempts remain.
Previously unpublished Satoshi-Finney emails revealed
Michael Kapilkov
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney, Fran Finney
CoinDesk published previously unseen Satoshi-Finney emails (obtained via widow Fran Finney): Finney's November 2008 scalability question and Satoshi's personal v0.1 release notice on January 8, 2009.
Chain Bulletin presents evidence that Satoshi Nakamoto lived in London
Doncho Karaivanov
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Doncho Karaivanov analyzes 742 activity instances across Satoshi's posts, commits, and emails, plus The Times headline and British spelling, to argue Satoshi was based in London.
Sergio Demian Lerner proves Patoshi used a single multi-threaded PC — not dozens of computers
Sergio Demian Lerner
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Lerner published The Patoshi Mining Machine, using re-mining simulation to prove Satoshi mined on a single high-end CPU with 5 parallel threads — refuting the Whale Alert claim.
Whale Alert's 'The Satoshi Fortune' — analysis confirms Satoshi mined ~1.125 million BTC
Whale Alert
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Sergio Demian Lerner
Whale Alert independent analysis confirmed Satoshi mined 1,125,150 BTC across 22,503 of the first 54,316 blocks, claiming ~48 computers (later disputed by Lerner's single-PC simulation).
Major Twitter hack uses Bitcoin in largest social media security breach
Twitter
Hackers compromise high-profile Twitter accounts including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Elon Musk, and Apple, posting Bitcoin scam messages in the largest security breach in the platform's history.
Hal Finney's RPOW receives posthumous recognition as Bitcoin precursor
Satoshi Nakamoto Institute
↔ Hal Finney, Adam Back, Nick Szabo
Hal Finney's RPOW system, a 2004 prototype for reusable proof-of-work tokens, gains posthumous recognition as one of Bitcoin's most important direct precursors.
Sergio Lerner coins the term 'Patoshi' — updates Satoshi mining estimate to ~1.1M BTC
Sergio Demian Lerner
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Six years after his original analysis, Lerner published The Return of the Deniers and the Revenge of Patoshi, coining the term Patoshi and proving a single PC clock via timestamp-inversion evidence.
QuadrigaCX collapse — Gerald Cotten's death and C$250M in inaccessible cryptocurrency
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Gerald Cotten
Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX collapsed after CEO Gerald Cotten died in India (Dec 2018). C$250M owed to ~115,000 customers became inaccessible. The OSC later ruled it was a long-running fraud.
Fran Finney's account of Hal Finney's life — Cryonics Magazine profile
Cryonics Magazine
↔ Hal Finney, Fran Finney
Cryonics Magazine published a profile of Hal Finney based on interviews with wife Fran — Caltech, his PGP Corporation career, his Bitcoin excitement, his ALS diagnosis, and Alcor cryopreservation.
Bitcoin SV splits from Bitcoin Cash — Wright and Ayre's 'original protocol' chain (November 2018)
nChain / CoinGeek
↔ Craig Wright
Bitcoin SV (Satoshi Vision) split from Bitcoin Cash on November 15, 2018, after a hash war between the Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV factions. The SV chain restored larger blocks and 'original' opcodes.
Jeff Garzik: 'Bitcoin's Wild Decade' — early developer retrospective
Jeff Garzik
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Gavin Andresen
Jeff Garzik, one of Bitcoin's earliest core developers, reflects on his work with Satoshi. He discovered Bitcoin via a July 2010 Slashdot post and became one of the top three contributors.
Ray Dillinger interview — early Bitcoin code reviewer recalls Satoshi's design choices
Ray Dillinger
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney
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.
Ray Dillinger: 'If I'd Known What We Were Starting' — reflections on reviewing Bitcoin's code
Ray Dillinger
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney
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.
China bans ICOs and orders crypto exchange closures
CNBC
↔ People's Bank of China
Seven Chinese government regulators jointly banned all ICOs and ordered domestic crypto exchanges shut. Bitcoin's price fell sharply but miners relocated and trading moved to decentralized platforms.
Mike Hearn publishes his email correspondence with Satoshi
Mike Hearn
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Mike Hearn publishes his private email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, providing valuable insights into Satoshi's thinking about Bitcoin's technical future.
Bitcoin Cash splits at block 478558 — the block-size war's first surviving fork (August 2017)
Bitcoin ABC project
↔ Roger Ver, Jihan Wu, Amaury Séchet
Bitcoin Cash forked from Bitcoin at block 478558, mined by ViaBTC around 12:37 UTC. The 8 MB, no-SegWit chain became the first protocol fork to leave a lasting separate network.
Satoshi's P2P Foundation account shows a 2016 login — no new posts, no 2FA on the old account
Unknown
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto's P2P Foundation profile shows login activity in late 2016, years after the 'I am not Dorian Nakamoto' post in 2014, sparking renewed speculation about the account's security.
Peter Todd's participation in the Zcash trusted setup ceremony
Peter Todd
Peter Todd participated in the Zcash trusted setup ceremony in October 2016 — driving across BC, shielding his laptop in a Faraday cage, and torching the hardware — then criticized the process.
Peter Todd announces OpenTimestamps
Peter Todd
Peter Todd announced OpenTimestamps, an open-source infrastructure using the Bitcoin blockchain to timestamp unlimited documents per transaction via Merkle tree aggregation.
Gavin Andresen recalls how Satoshi 'pulled a fast one' to make him Bitcoin's leader
Gavin Andresen
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Gavin Andresen, who was given commit access to Bitcoin by Satoshi and became the lead developer, recalls his interactions with Satoshi and the transition of leadership.
Craig Wright publicly claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto
BBC / The Economist
↔ Craig Wright, Satoshi Nakamoto, Gavin Andresen
Craig Wright publicly declared himself Satoshi in BBC, Economist and GQ interviews. His blog cryptographic proof was quickly debunked — he had reused a 2009 transaction signature.
libsecp256k1 replaces OpenSSL for consensus in Bitcoin Core v0.12
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Pieter Wuille, Gregory Maxwell, Satoshi Nakamoto
On January 15, 2016, Bitcoin Core v0.12 replaced OpenSSL with libsecp256k1 — Wuille and Maxwell's custom elliptic-curve library — for consensus-critical ECDSA verification.
Mike Hearn declares 'Bitcoin has failed' and sells all his coins
Mike Hearn
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Mike Hearn published The Resolution of the Bitcoin Experiment, declaring Bitcoin had failed due to governance breakdown and the block-size stalemate. He sold all his coins and left the project.
Wired and Gizmodo identify Craig Wright as possible Satoshi Nakamoto
Andy Greenberg
↔ Craig Wright, Sam Biddle
Wired and Gizmodo simultaneously publish articles identifying Australian computer scientist Craig Steven Wright as the probable creator of Bitcoin, based on leaked documents and emails.
Peter Todd and David Harding formalize Replace-by-Fee in BIP 125
David A. Harding, Peter Todd
↔ Peter Todd, Satoshi Nakamoto
BIP 125 formalized opt-in Replace-by-Fee (RBF), tracing directly to Satoshi's December 2010 BitcoinTalk replacement mechanism — the thread where Peter Todd made his second-ever forum post.
Bitcoin XT launches the block-size war — Hearn and Andresen propose 8 MB blocks (August 2015)
Mike Hearn
↔ Gavin Andresen
Mike Hearn and Gavin Andresen released Bitcoin XT 0.11A, a Bitcoin Core fork implementing BIP 101 — 8 MB blocks doubling every two years. The launch opened the public phase of the block-size war.
Decoding the Enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto and the Birth of Bitcoin — Nathaniel Popper / New York Times investigation naming Nick Szabo (May 15, 2015)
Nathaniel Popper
↔ Nick Szabo, Satoshi Nakamoto, Adam Back, Hal Finney, Wei Dai
On May 15, 2015, the New York Times published Nathaniel Popper's Decoding the Enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto — a Digital Gold excerpt naming Bit Gold designer Nick Szabo as Satoshi. Szabo denied it.
Peter Todd proposes BIP 65: OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY
Peter Todd
Peter Todd proposed BIP 65, introducing OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY — an opcode locking transaction outputs until a future time. Deployed as a soft fork, enabling escrow and payment channels.
Hal Finney (1956–2014) passes away — first Bitcoin recipient cryopreserved at Alcor
Fran Finney
↔ Hal Finney
Hal Finney, the first known person besides Satoshi to run Bitcoin and the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction, passes away from ALS at the age of 58.
Wei Dai on stumbling into Bitcoin and the missed gold rush
Wei Dai
Wei Dai LessWrong post revealing Satoshi emailed him about Bitcoin v0.1 in early 2009, but Dai ignored it because he was more interested in Less Wrong than Cypherpunks at the time.
Nick Szabo Identified as Bitcoin Whitepaper Author: Aston University Forensic Linguistics Stylometric Study of 11 Satoshi Candidates ('Project Bitcoin', April 2014)
Aston University Centre for Forensic Linguistics
↔ Nick Szabo, Satoshi Nakamoto
Aston University Centre for Forensic Linguistics released Project Bitcoin (April 2014): a stylometric study under Jack Grieve naming Szabo as the most likely whitepaper author among 11 candidates.
Andy Greenberg / Forbes: 'Nakamoto's Neighbor — The Bitcoin Ghostwriter Who Wasn't'
Andy Greenberg
↔ Hal Finney, Fran Finney, Dorian Nakamoto, Satoshi Nakamoto
March 25, 2014 Forbes feature by Andy Greenberg visiting Hal and Fran Finney in Temple City, examining the Hal-as-Satoshi geographic theory and publishing the April 18, 2009 race-day alibi photos.
Satoshi's P2P Foundation account briefly returns to deny Dorian Nakamoto (2014)
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Dorian Nakamoto
About 24 hours after Newsweek named Dorian Nakamoto as Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi's dormant P2P Foundation account posted a one-sentence denial. The post's authenticity has been debated since.
Newsweek claims to identify Satoshi Nakamoto as Dorian Nakamoto
Leah McGrath Goodman
↔ Dorian Nakamoto, Satoshi Nakamoto
Newsweek publishes 'The Face Behind Bitcoin,' identifying Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, a 64-year-old Japanese-American man living in Temple City, California, as Bitcoin's creator.
Mt. Gox files for bankruptcy — 850,000 BTC lost
NPR
↔ Mark Karpeles
Mt. Gox — once the world's largest Bitcoin exchange handling ~70% of transactions — filed for bankruptcy in Tokyo. CEO Mark Karpeles revealed ~850,000 BTC (~$450M) had been lost.
Wei Dai's retrospective statements on Satoshi Nakamoto and b-money
Wei Dai
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Wei Dai's LessWrong Q&A reflections: Satoshi did not read the b-money paper before reinventing the idea, and Dai had grown disillusioned with cryptoanarchy by the time he wrote it up.
Dogecoin launches as a meme — Markus and Palmer fork Litecoin (December 2013)
Billy Markus, Jackson Palmer
↔ Billy Markus, Jackson Palmer
Markus and Palmer launched Dogecoin on December 6, 2013 as a Litecoin fork around the 'Doge' Shiba Inu meme. Initially a satire of crypto speculation, it grew into a top-10 cryptocurrency.
Satoshi Nakamoto is (probably) Nick Szabo — Skye Grey's stylometric investigation reported by TechCrunch (December 5, 2013)
John Biggs
↔ Nick Szabo, Satoshi Nakamoto, Adam Back
On December 1, 2013, blogger Skye Grey published Satoshi Nakamoto is (probably) Nick Szabo — the first public stylometric study naming Szabo as Satoshi, reported by TechCrunch on December 5.
Sergio Demian Lerner discovers a second fingerprint in Satoshi's mining — the nonce LSB pattern
Sergio Demian Lerner
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Five months after his ExtraNonce analysis, Lerner discovered Satoshi's nonce values had a non-random LSB distribution — a second fingerprint of custom mining software with nonce partitioning.
Wei Dai's critique of Bitcoin's monetary policy and regret over not responding to Satoshi
Wei Dai
Wei Dai LessWrong comments: Bitcoin's monetary policy has failed due to volatility, and he never replied to Satoshi's 2008 review email — regretting he could have dissuaded the fixed-supply choice.
Sergio Demian Lerner identifies the 'Patoshi' mining pattern — ~1 million BTC linked to Satoshi
Sergio Demian Lerner
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Sergio Demian Lerner published The Well Deserved Fortune of Satoshi, identifying a distinctive mining pattern (later named Patoshi) linking ~22,000 blocks (~1.1M BTC) to a single miner.
Hal Finney: 'Bitcoin and Me' — a cypherpunk's final essay on Bitcoin's origins
Hal Finney
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Hal Finney's famous retrospective on his early involvement with Bitcoin, his interactions with Satoshi, and his battle with ALS. One of the most celebrated posts in Bitcoin history.
Bitcoin Magazine launches — first dedicated Bitcoin print publication (May 2012)
Mihai Alisie, Vitalik Buterin
↔ Vitalik Buterin, Mihai Alisie
Mihai Alisie and Vitalik Buterin launched Bitcoin Magazine in 2012; first print issue May 2012. Originated from Alisie's Bitcoin Weekly blog, became a long-running Bitcoin journalism outlet.
"The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin" — Wired's landmark feature on Bitcoin's first boom and bust
Benjamin Wallace
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Gavin Andresen, Laszlo Hanyecz, Jeff Garzik, Hal Finney, Wei Dai, Nick Szabo, Stefan Thomas, Dan Kaminsky, Amir Taaki
Benjamin Wallace's Wired feature — an early major mainstream article on Bitcoin. Traces the whitepaper, mining boom, Mt. Gox hack, and growing pains, ending with Garzik's "We really don't care."
Bitcoin v0.5 removes the Crypto++ dependency, replacing it with OpenSSL SHA-256
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Nils Schneider, Gavin Andresen, Wei Dai, Pieter Wuille, Satoshi Nakamoto
On November 20, 2011, Bitcoin v0.5 shipped with the Crypto++ SHA-256 subset removed and replaced by OpenSSL. Wei Dai's library, a direct codebase dependency since v0.1, was gone.
Litecoin launches as 'silver to Bitcoin's gold' — Charlie Lee forks Bitcoin with Scrypt PoW (October 2011)
Charlie Lee
Charlie Lee launched Litecoin on October 13, 2011 as a Bitcoin-codebase fork with Scrypt PoW, 2.5-minute blocks, and 84 M cap. He framed it as 'silver to Bitcoin's gold'.
Dan Kaminsky's Bitcoin security analysis
Joshua Davis
↔ Dan Kaminsky, Satoshi Nakamoto
Security researcher Dan Kaminsky tries to find vulnerabilities in Bitcoin and fails. "I came up with beautiful bugs. But every time I went after the code there was a line that addressed the problem."
Bitcoin moves to GitHub — Early committer access grants (2010–2011)
Bitcoin Project
↔ Gavin Andresen, Chris Moore, Pieter Wuille, Jeff Garzik, Wladimir van der Laan, Nils Schneider
Bitcoin's migration from SourceForge SVN to GitHub, and the chronological record of developers who received commit access to the GitHub repository in 2011.
Bitcoin Forum migrates from bitcoin.org/smf to bitcointalk.org
Michael Marquardt
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
The Bitcoin Forum, set up by Martti Malmi at bitcoin.org/smf, migrates to the independent bitcointalk.org domain in August 2011. Theymos managed the migration; all posts and accounts were preserved.
Dan Kaminsky's Len Sassaman tribute embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain
Dan Kaminsky
↔ Len Sassaman
After Len Sassaman's death (July 3, 2011), security researcher Dan Kaminsky embedded an ASCII-art tribute into the Bitcoin blockchain, announced July 30 and revealed at Black Hat USA 2011.
WikiLeaks begins accepting Bitcoin donations
WikiLeaks
↔ Julian Assange, Satoshi Nakamoto
WikiLeaks announces Bitcoin donations, bypassing the Bank of America/Visa/MasterCard/PayPal/Western Union blockade. Satoshi had warned against this six months earlier, fearing government attention.
Nick Szabo: 'Bitcoin, what took ye so long?' — why digital cash took decades
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Nick Szabo, Satoshi Nakamoto, Wei Dai, Hal Finney
Nick Szabo's May 2011 blog post on why digital cash took thirteen years between bit gold (1998) and Bitcoin (2009). Names libtech as the private list where bit gold and b-money developed in parallel.
Satoshi hands over the Bitcoin alert key to Gavin Andresen (April 26, 2011)
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Gavin Andresen
Satoshi's last known private email. He transfers the Bitcoin network alert key to Gavin Andresen, asks him to stop portraying him as a 'mysterious shadowy figure,' and says he has moved on.
Satoshi's final known emails — farewell to Hearn, alert key to Andresen
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Gavin Andresen, Mike Hearn
Satoshi's final known private messages: April 23, 2011 to Mike Hearn — "in good hands with Gavin." April 26 to Andresen, transferring the alert key and saying he would probably be unavailable.
Re: alert key - CIA presentation disclosure
Gavin Andresen
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Gavin Andresen replies to Satoshi's final email, accepting the alert key and disclosing that he has been invited to present Bitcoin to US intelligence agencies. Satoshi never replies to this message.
Mike Hearn's email exchange with Satoshi Nakamoto
Mike Hearn
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Mike Hearn's private email correspondence with Satoshi Nakamoto, in which Satoshi stated he had 'moved on to other things' and that Bitcoin was 'in good hands with Gavin and everyone.'
Forbes 'Crypto Currency' — early mainstream feature on Bitcoin and Satoshi (2011)
Andy Greenberg
↔ Gavin Andresen, Satoshi Nakamoto
One of the first major print magazine features on Bitcoin. Greenberg interviews Andresen, who calls Bitcoin "better gold than gold." The mainstream attention may have driven Satoshi's withdrawal.
Namecoin launches as the first altcoin — Vincent Durham realizes the BitDNS proposal (April 2011)
Vincent Durham
Vincent Durham launched Namecoin on April 18, 2011 — the first altcoin and first fork of the Bitcoin codebase. It implemented the BitDNS proposal as a decentralized name registration system.
Wei Dai clarifies his connection to Bitcoin and begins mining
Wei Dai
On LessWrong, Wei Dai clarifies he did not create Bitcoin — "only described a similar idea more than a decade ago" — buys a Radeon 5870 to mine, and warns Bitcoin lacks cryptographer security review.
Satoshi's final email in the Malmi archive — a reply to Gavin (with Martti looped in)
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Gavin Andresen, Martti Malmi
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.
Andresen announces taking over Bitcoin project management (December 19, 2010)
Gavin Andresen
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Gavin Andresen announces on BitcoinTalk topic 2367 he is taking over active project management of Bitcoin with Satoshi's blessing. Same day, he creates the bitcoin/bitcoin GitHub repo.
Bitcoin v0.3.19 released on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin v0.3.19 was released on SourceForge as Satoshi Nakamoto's final release, adding DoS protections and removing safe mode alerts before his departure.
Satoshi's successor — project-manager handover to Gavin Andresen
Gavin Andresen
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto gives Gavin Andresen control of the source code repository and endorses him to lead the Bitcoin project. Andresen publicly announces the transition on the Bitcointalk forum.
Bitcoin v0.3.18 released on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Gavin Andresen
Bitcoin v0.3.18 was released on SourceForge, one of Satoshi's last releases, featuring wallet compatibility fixes and Gavin Andresen's accounts-based JSON-RPC commands.
Peter Todd's first BitcoinTalk post: buying a Diaspora invite
Peter Todd
Peter Todd's first BitcoinTalk post, one minute after registering as retep — offering $2 USD (not BTC, unlike others) for a Diaspora invite. His second post was a technical reply to Satoshi.
Re: Bitcoin - Recommending Gavin Andresen to take over development and management
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
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.
Bitcoin v0.3.12 released on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin v0.3.12 was released on SourceForge with important bug fixes and improvements including key pool feature for safer wallet backups and various network stability enhancements.
Satoshi tells Andresen he is working on other projects (September 2010)
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Gavin Andresen
In September 2010, Satoshi privately tells Andresen he is working on other projects — the earliest documented signal of his intent to step back. He soon handed Andresen the repository and alert key.
Value overflow incident — 184 billion BTC created in Block 74638
Jeff Garzik
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Gavin Andresen
An integer overflow bug (CVE-2010-5139) was exploited to create 184 billion BTC in Block 74638. Satoshi published a fix within 5 hours; the corrected chain overtook the invalid one within 15 hours.
Bitcoin v0.3.10 - overflow bug emergency fix
Satoshi Nakamoto
Emergency release of Bitcoin v0.3.10 to fix a value overflow vulnerability exploited to create 184 billion bitcoins in a single transaction. Satoshi coordinated the rapid soft-fork deployment.
Slashdot publishes Bitcoin article — first major tech media coverage
Slashdot
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Slashdot, an influential tech news site at the time, publishes an article about Bitcoin v0.3. The Slashdot effect causes a surge in downloads — Bitcoin's first major mainstream tech media exposure.
Re: Bitcoin - De-emphasize the anonymous angle
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
Satoshi warns Malmi to de-emphasize Bitcoin's anonymity claims, distinguishing between anonymity and pseudonymity - a prescient warning about privacy expectations.
Bitcoin v0.3 released on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin v0.3 was released on SourceForge with JSON-RPC control, a daemon version, Mac OS X support, and 20% faster hashing, coinciding with the famous Slashdot posting.
Bitcoin Faucet and early collaboration
Gavin Andresen
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Gavin Andresen begins corresponding with Satoshi after discovering Bitcoin in May 2010 and starts submitting code contributions. He creates the Bitcoin Faucet to give away free BTC and boost adoption.
Bitcoin Pizza Day — Laszlo Hanyecz buys two pizzas for 10,000 BTC
Laszlo Hanyecz
↔ Jeremy Sturdivant
Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 BTC for two Papa John's pizzas — the first purchase of a physical good with Bitcoin. Completed May 22, 2010 and celebrated annually as Bitcoin Pizza Day. ~$41 at the time.
Laszlo Hanyecz recalls Satoshi sharing his own defensive GPU mining code (May 2010)
Laszlo Hanyecz
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Hanyecz recalls Satoshi reciprocating his GPU miner code by sharing his own GPU mining code, kept as defense against potential 51% attacks rather than for mining. From later interviews.
Laszlo Hanyecz recalls Satoshi's pushback on premature GPU mining (May 2010)
Laszlo Hanyecz
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Hanyecz recalls Satoshi's private pushback on his May 10, 2010 BitcoinTalk GPU-mining announcement. The verifiable element is the announcement; Satoshi's side comes from Hanyecz's later interviews.
Laszlo Hanyecz recalls his Satoshi correspondence around the Bitcoin macOS port era (April 2010)
Laszlo Hanyecz
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Hanyecz recalls his Satoshi correspondence around the April 19, 2010 macOS port. The private emails are unreleased; quotes are from later interviews. He called Satoshi paranoid, bossy, and weird.
BTC currency code and ฿ symbol proposal
NewLibertyStandard
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
NewLibertyStandard proposes adopting the Thai baht symbol (฿) as Bitcoin's symbol and BTC as the three-letter code on BitcoinTalk, establishing the notation still in use today.
Bitcoin v0.2 released on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
Bitcoin v0.2 was released on SourceForge, introducing Linux support, multi-processor mining, proxy support for Tor, and GUI improvements contributed by Martti Malmi.
First Bitcoin sale for fiat — Martti Malmi sells 5,050 BTC for $5.02
Martti Malmi
↔ NewLibertyStandard
Martti Malmi sells 5,050 BTC to NewLibertyStandard for $5.02 via PayPal — the first known Bitcoin-to-fiat exchange, establishing a real-world price of ~$0.001 per BTC.
First Bitcoin exchange rate — $1 = 1,309.03 BTC
NewLibertyStandard
NewLibertyStandard publishes the first exchange rate for Bitcoin: $1 = 1,309.03 BTC ($0.000764 per BTC), calculated from the electricity cost of mining — a rudimentary but historic first valuation.
'Dying Outside' — Hal Finney's October 2009 essay on ALS, hope, and continuing to ship code
Bitcoin Institute
↔ Hal Finney
Hal Finney's October 2009 LessWrong essay, two months after his ALS diagnosis. He commits to continuing open-source contribution from an immobile body, kept until his August 2014 death.
Bitcoin SourceForge SVN Repository — Complete committer history (2009–2011)
Bitcoin Project
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Martti Malmi, Laszlo Hanyecz, Gavin Andresen
Complete record of all four developers who had commit access to Bitcoin's SourceForge SVN repository. 252 revisions were recorded from August 30, 2009 to September 13, 2011.
Re: Bitcoin - Autostart and minimize-to-tray as must-have features
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
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.
Re: Bitcoin - First exchange proposal
Martti Malmi
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
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.
Re: No connections — connected to a single peer
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Nicholas Bohm
Satoshi follows up that he is connected to IP 70.113.114.209 and notes Bohm may have an outgoing-connection issue if not. The IP was later identified as likely Dustin Trammell's in Austin, Texas.
Re: No connections — 'There may just not be anybody else running it right now'
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Nicholas Bohm
Satoshi's candid reply to Bohm's connectivity issue, admitting there may be no other nodes running at that moment. He encourages Bohm to keep his server online so new users have someone to connect to.
No connections for a day
Nicholas Bohm
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Bohm reports to Satoshi that Bitcoin has failed to establish any connections for over a day, despite restarts. He had been maintaining 3-5 node connections prior to July 15th.
Re: Bitcoin - The term 'cryptocurrency' and site improvements
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
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.
Re: Router issue — port 8333 forwarding advice
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Nicholas Bohm
Satoshi advises Bohm to forward port 8333 on his new router so his Bitcoin node can receive incoming connections, explaining that without inbound-capable nodes online, the network fails to function.
Router issue — Bitcoin can't connect
Nicholas Bohm
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Nicholas Bohm, a retired British solicitor and early Bitcoin user, writes to Satoshi that after installing a new router, his Bitcoin client can no longer connect to the network.
Re: Bitcoin - FAQ draft and investment language warning
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
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.
Re: Bitcoin - Defense of mining energy consumption
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
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.
Re: Bitcoin - Agreement to develop website and FAQ
Martti Malmi
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Malmi agrees to develop the Bitcoin website and FAQ, proposes password-protected private keys, and reports running a Bitcoin node 24/7.
Re: Bitcoin
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Martti Malmi
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.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Spam, POW tokens, and reverse-spamming
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi responds to Hal Finney's botnet/pay-per-send point, proposing that fake mailboxes could 'reverse-spam' spammers by harvesting their POW tokens. He also describes e-gold's 'dusting' problem.
Re: Bitcoin Transfer - UI wording suggestion
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell admits the mislabeling was his error, suggests changing 'Received with' to 'Received payment to' for clarity, and draws a PayPal analogy as the closest parallel to multiple addresses.
Re: Bitcoin Transfer - Address labels and UX challenges
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi explains the default address label is 'Your Address', suggests the mislabeling was a UI-driven user error, and acknowledges that per-payer receiving addresses have no real-world analogy.
Re: Bitcoin Transfer - Mislabeled address discovery
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell realizes the confusing 'Satoshi' label was on his own receiving address, confirms he has multiple addresses at home, and asks if 'Satoshi' was the default since he doesn't recall setting it.
Re: Bitcoin Transfer - Address book and multiple addresses
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi explains the 'Satoshi' label came from Trammell's own address book, that transactions show the receiving address (not the sender), and recommends per-payer addresses to identify payers.
BitCoin Transfer - Confusion about received transaction
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell reports confusion about a 100 BTC transfer between his own two Bitcoin instances — the transaction details showed 'Satoshi' as a label, leading him to wonder if Satoshi had sent the coins.
Re: A few thoughts... - Wallet location and socket fix
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi reveals the wallet location (%appdata%\Bitcoin), explains it uses a transactional database (DBM) safe from crash/power loss, and confirms socket cleanup code is added for the next release.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Electronic currency vision (CC'd publicly)
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi CC's his Trammell exchange to bitcoin-list and the Cryptography list, sharing his Bitcoin vision including the famous line 'It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.'
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Joining bitcoin-list and investment motive
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell confirms his IP is static, agrees to CC publicly, says he'll join bitcoin-list, reveals he started mining as an investment after Hal Finney's message, and discusses micropayment uptake.
Re: A few thoughts... - Address verification and wallet backup
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell argues Bitcoin addresses are more secure than IP-based sending since they verify through multiple channels. He proposes an address-advertisement toggle and reports an exit socket bug.
Re: A few thoughts... - Attack classification and send-to-IP security
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi responds to Trammell's MITM analysis by classifying attacks into two types (chain-of-communication vs. anyone on the Internet), proposes a combined IP+address fix, and notes wallet encryption.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Use cases and electronic currency future
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi discusses dynamic IPs, asks permission to CC the conversation to bitcoin-list and the Cryptography mailing list, and envisions Bitcoin use cases including pay-to-send email and micropayments.
A few thoughts... - Man-in-the-middle attack on send-to-IP
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell's detailed security analysis of Bitcoin's send-to-IP feature, identifying MITM vulnerabilities including ARP poisoning and ISP-level interception. Recommends always using Bitcoin addresses.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - IP address and roulette analogy
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell provides his IP address for Satoshi to send coins, explains the proof-hashes group is open for posting, discusses Bitcoin's early vulnerability, and compares mining to a roulette wheel.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Offer to send coins
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi informs Trammell that bugs are fixed in v0.1.3 and offers to send him some coins via the send-to-IP feature, one of the earliest known direct Bitcoin transfers.
One Other Question - CPU power and coin generation
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell asks what prevents the most powerful node from generating the majority of bitcoins — one of the earliest questions about mining centralization.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Upgrade issues
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell reports two issues upgrading from v0.1.0 to v0.1.3: the old process wouldn't exit, and all four generated coins showed 'Generated (not accepted)' — likely orphans from the communications bug.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released - Proof hashes and upgrade
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Trammell tells Satoshi about his proof-hashes Google Group, gives feedback on the credit field display, reports running v0.1.1 and will upgrade, and offers to help test new features.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Dustin Trammell
Satoshi replies to Dustin Trammell, explaining the coin maturity system and recommending an upgrade to version 0.1.3 which had stabilized the software.
First Bitcoin transaction — Satoshi sends 10 BTC to Hal Finney
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Hal Finney
The first person-to-person Bitcoin transaction in history. Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney in Block 170, confirming that Bitcoin's peer-to-peer electronic cash system worked as designed.
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released
Dustin Trammell
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Dustin Trammell's first email to Satoshi after running the Bitcoin alpha. Reports usage, mentions a public timestamp service, and asks about coin maturity (generated coins showing 0.00 credit).
"Running bitcoin" — Hal Finney's historic tweet
Hal Finney
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
The first known tweet about Bitcoin. Hal Finney posted 'Running bitcoin' on the day Bitcoin v0.1 was released (January 10/11, 2009). He was the first known person other than Satoshi to run it.
Bitcoin v0.1 launch announcement to Adam Back
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Adam Back
Satoshi writes Adam Back for the final time, thanking him for paper suggestions and announcing the Bitcoin software launch. Includes Hal Finney's project overview from the Cryptography mailing list.
Satoshi tells Hal Finney he cannot receive incoming Bitcoin connections (January 10, 2009)
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Hal Finney
Satoshi tells Finney that he cannot receive incoming connections from his location, revealing an operational constraint in the earliest days of the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin v0.1 released on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto released Bitcoin v0.1, the first public release of the Bitcoin software, on SourceForge. This Windows-only release made it possible for anyone to run a Bitcoin node and mine coins.
Satoshi personally notifies Hal Finney of the Bitcoin v0.1 release (January 8, 2009)
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Hal Finney
Satoshi personally notifies Hal Finney of the Bitcoin v0.1 release hours after the public Cryptography list post, sending the SourceForge link and pointing him to bitcoin.org for release notes.
Why Satoshi etched a bank-bailout headline into Bitcoin's first block
Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin's first block contains a Times bank-bailout headline — Satoshi's only personal voice inside the design, etched in the system's most permanent place. A reading of why he chose it.
Hal Finney to Satoshi with foundational scalability questions during pre-release review (November 19, 2008)
Hal Finney
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Hal Finney's private email to Satoshi during pre-release code review, asking foundational scalability questions: 'How large do you envision it becoming? Tens of nodes? Thousands? Millions?'
Bitcoin project registered on SourceForge
Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto registered the 'bitcoin' project on SourceForge.net, establishing the first public repository and project page for Bitcoin's source code and releases.
Re: Hashcash citation — suggesting MicroMint paper
Adam Back
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Adam Back suggests Satoshi look at Ron Rivest's 1996 MicroMint paper on k-way hash collisions. Back admits he has not yet read the draft — a decision he later called 'probably my biggest mistake.'
Re: Hashcash citation — 'my ideas start from exactly that point'
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Adam Back
Satoshi thanks Adam Back for the b-money reference and reveals he was not previously aware of Wei Dai's proposal. Historically significant line: 'my ideas start from exactly that point.'
Re: Hashcash citation — suggesting b-money
Adam Back
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
Adam Back confirms the Hashcash citation and suggests Satoshi look at Wei Dai's b-money proposal. This referral led Satoshi to contact Wei Dai and cite b-money in the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Hashcash citation and Bitcoin whitepaper draft
Satoshi Nakamoto
↔ Adam Back
Satoshi Nakamoto's earliest known email. He contacts Adam Back to verify the Hashcash paper citation and shares a pre-release draft titled 'Electronic Cash Without a Trusted Third Party' (ecash.pdf).
"Anybody want to help me code one up?" — Nick Szabo seeks bit gold implementation
Nick Szabo
↔ Satoshi Nakamoto
On his Unenumerated blog, Nick Szabo asks for help implementing bit gold — his 1998 digital currency design. No one publicly responds. Six months later, Satoshi publishes the Bitcoin whitepaper.
Wei Dai's response on b-money's limitations and prospects
Wei Dai
↔ Adam Back
Wei Dai replies to Adam Back on Cypherpunks, conceding b-money would be at most a niche mechanism and revealing his shift toward viewing the government monopoly of force as a net benefit.
"To create value you burn CPU time" — Adam Back's seven monetary-design issues in b-money
Adam Back
↔ Wei Dai
Adam Back replies to Wei Dai on Cypherpunks, identifying seven monetary-design issues in b-money and proposing Hashcash as the minting mechanism — a substantive analysis ten years before Bitcoin.
Wei Dai's original b-money announcement alongside PipeNet 1.1
Wei Dai
Wei Dai announces b-money on the Cypherpunks list as a secondary item alongside PipeNet 1.1, his primary focus. The proposal later cited in Bitcoin appears in a single sentence at the end of the post.
Adam Back announces Hashcash on the Cypherpunks list — proof-of-work positioned within the digital-cash discourse
Adam Back
Adam Back announces Hashcash to the Cypherpunks list — a proof-of-work postage scheme against spam, framed within the digital-cash discourse as a stop-gap or fallback for digicash.
Wei Dai announces Disperse/Collect, built from his own Crypto++ library
Wei Dai
Wei Dai announces Disperse/Collect 1.0 on the Cypherpunks list, built from his own Crypto++ library. Confirms he was an active coder, relevant to why he later chose not to implement b-money.