The 15-year milestone of the Bitcoin (BTC) white paper, pioneered by the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, was marked on October 31. This day in 2008 saw the release of the revolutionary document that introduced a decentralized, peer-to-peer electronic cash system that transformed digital transactions.
The white paper was first shared on a cryptographers mailing list on Halloween. It proposed a system that could solve the “double spending” problem often associated with digital currency, via a network of nodes to validate and record transactions through a proof-of-work consensus mechanism.
The white paper also referenced previous developments in the cryptography and e-money space, including Wei Dai’s b-money, a concept that played a key role in Satoshi’s plans for Bitcoin. Other important influences included Adam Back’s invention of Hashcash in 1997, which incorporated proof-of-work to limit e-mail spam and denial-of-service attacks.
Over the years, Bitcoin has evolved and has been widely adopted globally, with countries like El Salvador making it legal tender in 2021. However, its journey has not been without controversy, including its initial association with criminal activity and its extreme price volatility. As of this writing, BTC is currently trading at $34,350, down 50% from its all-time high of $69,000 on Nov. 10, 2021.
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