Bitcoin has had a phenomenal year in 2017 surpassing many expectations as the decentralized currency now commands a whopping $100B market capitalization. This Halloween marks another milestone as nine years ago today the anonymous creator of the ‘Internet of Money,’ Satoshi Nakamoto, released the Bitcoin white paper.
On October 31, 2008, The Idea of a Genuine Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Was Born
On October 31 of 2008, a paper written by a person or group named ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’ released a white paper called “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The document issued to the subscribers of the cryptography mailing list described a revolutionary technology that created the world’s first genuine peer-to-peer and decentralized monetary system. The internet-based money enabled online payments without a third party and also wasn’t issued by a government or corporate entity. Nakamoto’s brilliant paper sums up Bitcoin’s primary attributes in the first few sentences that state:
[Bitcoin] a purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending. We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.
‘There’s Nothing to Relate it To’
When Bitcoin was released into the wild in January of 2009, the decentralized network slowly started transforming the way society perceives money and the entire financial system in general. Bitcoin started with just a few adopters, like Hal Finney who received 10 BTC completing the very first bitcoin transaction. Now the protocol is used by millions of people from every corner of the world, giving individuals a better way to bank, while also moving their funds without permission from so-called rulers.
Sorry to be a wet blanket. Writing a description for (bitcoin) for general audiences is bloody hard. There’s nothing to relate it to. ~ Satoshi Nakamoto
In fact, bitcoin is considered the ‘people’s money’ because the decentralized cryptocurrency has no rulers and gives individuals the sovereign freedom to do whatever they want with their money. The complex monetary system is not based on force or fraud, but rather valid consent towards relying on the consensus of math. This is a stark contrast to the untrustworthy banking system we know of today.
“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party,” explains Nakamoto’s paper.
We the People Have Proposed a System for Electronic Transactions Without Relying on Trust
Now in 2017, more and more people are starting to seek the benefits of Bitcoin’s revolutionary system. At the time of writing one bitcoin is worth over $6,000 and every 24 hours the world is swapping billions worth of BTC. The currency has also resulted in over 1,000 protocol copycats that have used Bitcoin’s technology in some form. The alternative cryptocurrency space that followed Bitcoin’s lead commands $78B worth of ‘altcoins,’ which also trade billions every day. Many proponents still agree that Bitcoin has been an innovative technology that is changing society — much like the evolutionary rise of the Internet over the past few decades.
A lot of people also agree that the importance and relevance of Satoshi’s paper will live on forever, and will always give newcomers an excellent summary of what cryptocurrency is, and the vast possibilities in store for the future. “We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust,” Nakamoto concludes at the end of the paper.
Since then, Bitcoin has become a living and breathing economy that has yet to be stopped. On the ninth anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, 2017 is showing there are no signs of this revolutionary system slowing down.
At Bitcoin.com we keep an archived version of the original Satoshi Nakamoto white paper here for people to share.
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