Every known public message from the creator of Bitcoin. Emails, forum posts, the whitepaper, and private messages later made public.
37 messages
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper
“I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (reply to James Donald)
“The proof-of-work chain is a solution to the Byzantine Generals' Problem.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (second reply)
“It is strictly necessary that the longest chain is always considered the valid one.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (reply to Ray Dillinger)
“Proof-of-work has the nice property that it can be relayed through untrusted middlemen.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (bandwidth discussion)
“The bandwidth might not be as prohibitive as you think.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (proof-of-work details)
“Nodes collect new transactions into a block, hash them into a hash tree, and scan through nonce values to make the block's hash satisfy proof-of-work requirements.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (additional reply)
“The credential that establishes how much a vote counts for is the proof-of-work done.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (third reply, Nov 9)
“When there are multiple double-spent versions of the same transaction, one and only one will become valid.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (scalability and disk space)
“Long before the network gets anywhere near as large as that, it would be safe for users to use Simplified Payment Verification.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (further scalability discussion)
“Only people trying to create new coins would need to run network nodes.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (replying on double-spending)
“The proof-of-work is a Hashcash style SHA-256 collision finding. It's a memoryless process where you do millions of hashes a second.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (privacy discussion)
“The possibility to be anonymous or pseudonymous relies on you not revealing any identifying information about yourself in connection with the bitcoin addresses you use.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper (final mailing list reply, 2008)
“I'll try and hurry up and release the sourcecode as soon as possible to serve as a reference for all these questions.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Bitcoin v0.1 released
“Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released (discussion)
“The software is not polished, but the core design is solid.”
Mailing ListCryptography Mailing List
Re: Bitcoin v0.1 released (reply to Hal Finney)
“It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.”
Whitepaperbitcoin.org
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
“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.”
P2P FoundationP2P Foundation
Bitcoin open source implementation of P2P currency
“I've developed a new open source P2P e-cash system called Bitcoin. It's completely decentralized, with no central server or trusted parties.”
P2P FoundationP2P Foundation
Reply on monetary policy and trust
“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.”
P2P FoundationP2P Foundation
Reply on generation and CPU power
“When there are multiple double-spent versions of the same transaction, one and only one will become valid. The receiver of a payment must wait an hour or so before believing that it's valid.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
Bitcoin released as open source
“It's been over a year since we launched the network. The software is now mature, and the user base continues to grow.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On the topic of Bitcoin scalability
“The current system where every user is a network node is not the intended configuration for large scale. The design supports letting users just be users.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On the supply limit of 21 million
“The fact that new coins are produced means the money supply increases by a planned amount. This does not necessarily result in inflation.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
Reply about Bitcoin as digital gold
“As a thought experiment, imagine there was a base metal as scarce as gold but with specific properties that made it useful as a medium of exchange.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On the nature of Bitcoin
“The nature of Bitcoin is such that once version 0.1 was released, the core design was set in stone for the rest of its lifetime.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On lost coins
“Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
Version 0.3 released (Slashdot discussion)
“Bitcoin 0.3 has been released! The main new features are improved performance, daemon mode for headless operation, and a new JSON-RPC interface.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On trying to convince skeptics
“If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On potential future transaction types
“The design supports a tremendous variety of possible transaction types that I designed years ago. Escrow transactions, bonded contracts, third party arbitration, multi-party signature, etc.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
Emergency fix for value overflow bug
“The bug caused a transaction to create billions of bitcoins. The fix involves rejecting transactions with invalid output values.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On Bitcoin and governments
“Governments are good at cutting off the heads of a centrally controlled network, but pure P2P networks like Gnutella and Tor seem to be holding their own.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On describing Bitcoin to the public
“Writing a description for this thing for general audiences is bloody hard. There's nothing to relate it to.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
On WikiLeaks (urging caution)
“It would have been nice to get this attention in any other context. WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet's nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”
BitcoinTalk ForumBitcoinTalk
Satoshi's final known public post
“There's more work to do on DoS, but I'm doing a quick build of what I have so far in case it's needed, before venturing into more complex ideas.”
Private MessagePublished by Mike Hearn
Email to Mike Hearn
“I've moved on to other things. It's in good hands with Gavin and everyone.”
Private MessagePublished by Gavin Andresen
Email to Gavin Andresen (last known communication)
“I wish you wouldn't keep talking about me as a mysterious shadowy figure, the press just turns that into a pirate currency angle.”
P2P FoundationP2P Foundation (authenticity disputed - account may have been compromised)
Final P2P Foundation message: 'I am not Dorian Nakamoto'