On April 26, 2011, Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto sent the last e-mail to other developers. In the e-mail, he made it clear that he had “transferred to other projects” and handed over at the same time It is the encryption key used to send network-wide alerts.
Fast forward to 2021. In many ways, the Bitcoin story has just begun. As the price of Bitcoin breaks through a new high of $60,000, Satoshi Nakamoto has invented a Crypto currency that is not controlled by any central political party or government, and its necessity has received more and more recognition.
Today, sought after by musicians, politicians, and human rights advocates, Bitcoin is in a mainstream moment. However, there are still many mysteries about Satoshi Nakamoto.
Therefore, today Forbes published a new study that comprehensively explored the time when Satoshi Nakamoto was the lead developer of the Bitcoin project for the first time.
A Bitcoin Magazine report titled “The Last Days of Satoshi Nakamoto: What Happened When the Creator of Bitcoin Disappeared” comprehensively summarized what Satoshi Nakamoto experienced when he launched Bitcoin and his role as a The choice made by the developer and heralded why his influence on this technology continued for a long time after he left.
Based on this 6-month study, the report includes more than 120 citations, and readers can see the complete conversations surrounding some infamous moments around Bitcoin, including a famous conference at the CIA headquarters and the first project The complete background of the dialogue about the transition of power.
With this in mind, Pete Rizzo from Forbes shared some of the things they learned while studying Satoshi Nakamoto and his early work as a Bitcoin code manager.
If you are new to cryptocurrency, I hope these findings will encourage you to explore the history of Bitcoin in more detail.
1. Satoshi Nakamoto believes that Bitcoin is an alternative to central banks
Over the years, people have repeatedly tried to reshape Satoshi Nakamoto as someone who is only interested in disrupting the banking industry or payment business. Most people have their own opinions about the news article printed on the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain. Interpretation.
But even if you don’t look at the code directly, some of the initial public information of Satoshi Nakamoto directly involves currency issuance.
In February 2009, he wrote on the P2P Foundation Forum: “The fundamental problem of traditional currencies is all the trust needed to make it work. People must trust that the central bank will not let the currency depreciate, but the history of legal tender is full of violations of this A situation of trust. We must trust the banks to keep our money and transfer them electronically, but they lent funds during the credit bubble with very little reserves.”
Contrary to what critics might say, Satoshi Nakamoto often focused on central banks and money printing when he created his invention.
He described it in another earliest reply: “For the issue of secure electronic payment protocols, no one can really act as the central bank or the Federal Reserve, and can adjust the money supply as the number of users grows.”
2. Satoshi Nakamoto was active behind the scenes after “leaving” Bitcoin
Before this new research, it is known that Satoshi Nakamoto’s last message on the Bitcoin forum was in December 2010. He sent the last message to the developers on April 26, 2011. Few people knew that this happened between them. what.
Thanks to the new email provided by Gavin Andresen, a developer who worked directly with Satoshi Nakamoto and took over the project during his absence, these clues are now more complete.
Indeed, there are some differences between Satoshi Nakamoto and other developers, the most notable is how to deal with the publicity obtained by the project, and other technical issues.
Rizzo does not think that this will give us a deeper understanding of the exact time when Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared, but he concluded from the research that when Satoshi Nakamoto left, Bitcoin no longer needed a single leader. .
3. Satoshi Nakamoto knows that Bitcoin is a scientific breakthrough
What I’m talking about here is a sub-page on the original Bitcoin.org website in which Satoshi Nakamoto claimed that Bitcoin solved the “Byzantine General’s Problem”, and since then, it is generally believed that he is doing this.
What is surprising is that Satoshi Nakamoto was not only able to invent truly new things, but also to realize this achievement in concrete terms.
This proves that he is proficient in the history of computer science and can accurately define what he has achieved, even if it takes some time for the world to catch up with his ideas.
4. Satoshi Nakamoto was really frightened by the idea that Bitcoin could be destroyed
Although Rizzo believed this assertion, he still rigorously demonstrated it through detailed explanations.
Rizzo knew for a long time that the Bitcoin blockchain was exploited in 2010. This loophole led to the birth of billions of Bitcoins, which directly violated the software’s monetary policy.
Rizzo never thought that Satoshi Nakamoto would be deeply affected by this. Satoshi Nakamoto did not regard this incident as a one-off event, but made him fundamentally change his actions and leadership. His cooperation with other developers has become less, and he is more inclined to make unannounced additions and updates to the software. In general, he is obsessed with making the software safer. This phase seems to last for several months.
Later in 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto realized that Bitcoin was vulnerable to attacks, and the rest of his work was an attempt to prevent fatal attacks at all costs.
5. Satoshi Nakamoto is the benevolent dictator of Bitcoin
Today, Bitcoin development is a highly collaborative process among hundreds of developers around the world. But when Satoshi Nakamoto hosted this project, he and several others did most or all of the work.
Nonetheless, it is not surprising. In the early days, there were not many good programmers like Satoshi Nakamoto. Encouraged by Gavin Andresen, they later joined the project, which became a more open and collaborative project under his leadership.
Nevertheless, I still think it is interesting for Satoshi Nakamoto to manage Bitcoin as a benevolent dictator because he often writes “official” code for others to test. This is completely in line with the established practice of open source. Most people believe that Satoshi Nakamoto did not realize that he needed to invent a new model for the management of Bitcoin in order to make it “decentralized.”
This is why Rizzo believes that it is best to consider part of Bitcoin as built by Satoshi Nakamoto, and its completion, technically and philosophically, is the result of other subsequent contributors.
6. Bitcoin users began to criticize Satoshi Nakamoto before he left
Regarding this research, Rizzo’s biggest surprise may be the discovery of real-time conversations between Bitcoin users about Satoshi Nakamoto and witnessing how users’ attitudes towards Satoshi Nakamoto have changed over time.
According to Rizzo, these attitudes have roughly gone through three stages. There was a honeymoon period in early 2010, when most users were discovering this software. And when he started to more actively maintain his authority over the code, it was an awakening.
Finally, in the last period of the end of 2010, users completely separated from Satoshi Nakamoto. Some people joked about his gender and sexual orientation, sometimes graphically. They talked quite freely and openly about the frustration caused by Satoshi Nakamoto, due to the general lack of usability and inability to meet many of the requirements of users.
7. Satoshi Nakamoto deleted his name from the Bitcoin software before leaving
The last interesting finding is that Satoshi Nakamoto did formally “quit” Bitcoin, removed his name from the copyright notice of the software, and left the code to all “Bitcoin developers.”
This is consistent with our understanding of Satoshi Nakamoto. His dedication and mastery of personal safety make him a mystery to this day.
This is the final clue, and this move eliminates all doubts about whether he intends to leave, although the motive behind this move is still a mystery.