The Bitcoin whitepaper was published in 2008 by the anonymous cryptocurrency creator Satoshi Nakamoto on the Bitcoin.org website. The document was posted under the MIT license – like the rest of the cryptocurrency code.
Therefore, all this became public, that is, anyone could enjoy the fruits of Nakamoto’s labor. However, there is still a need to preserve the main document on the first cryptocurrency. And this is being actively pursued.
Recall that the whitepaper is a document about the first cryptocurrency, in which its developer Satoshi Nakamoto outlined the main features of his project. In particular, it mentions the basics of motivation for miners, the privacy of network participants, and other important differences. You can learn more about the contents of the whitepaper in a separate article.
More recently, the «freedom» of the whitepaper was threatened by the encroachment of the developer Craig Wright, who claimed his rights to the document. Wright at one time received the nickname «Feiktoshi» – that is, «Fake Satoshi» – since for several years he has been unsuccessfully trying to prove that he is allegedly the very Satoshi Nakamoto.
However, during all this time, he could not confirm his involvement in the development of BTC. Moreover, all such attempts only convinced the cryptocurrency community that Wright was only promoting himself on this topic.
Bitcoin.org administrators refused to comply with Wright’s requirements and received the support of the cryptocurrency community, but some platforms still followed the developer’s lead in order to avoid possible problems. Be that as it may, worrying about the fate of the main document about Bitcoin is no longer worth it. Whitepaper is now successfully secured in five ways.
Whitepaper hosted by governments
The main Bitcoin document can be found on the official websites of several governments, including Colombia, Estonia, and the United States of America. For example, on the website of the Estonian government, a fixed whitepaper is accompanied by the following message.
We are pleased to keep the original Bitcoin whitepaper here on our website as an inspiration for future innovators who want to understand how to use blockchain technology to support cross-border business and other applications.
Colombian presidential adviser Yehudi Castro posted a link to the document on Twitter, noting that his country’s government also cares about the integrity of Satoshi Nakamoto’s legacy, Decrypt reported.
The United States government has also published a whitepaper on the US Sentencing Commission website. In addition, House Financial Services Committee spokesman Patrick McHenry posted a copy of the official document on the Congress website.
In other words, information from the white paper is unlikely to ever be lost by humanity. Bitcoin’s innovative impact on the world has been recognized even at the government level, and that already means a lot.
The prospects for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have become especially bright after the recent investment in BTC by Tesla. The car manufacturer’s management has invested $ 1.5 billion in the coin and plans to accept Bitcoin as payment in addition.
Decentralized networks as a fallback
The Bitcoin Whitepaper is in the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) and the so-called Ethereum Name Service (ENS).
As a reminder, IPFS is a peer-to-peer network for storing and exchanging data in a distributed file system. Each file is uniquely identified using a specific content addressing. Well, the Ethereum Name Service is an open naming system that is built on the Ethereum blockchain and uses domain names. The platform displays human-readable names instead of long and hard-to-remember traditional complex addresses, making it easy to send ETH to other ENS users.
By the way, the Bitcoin whitepaper appeared in ENS at the suggestion of a Twitter user under the nickname Philomath. On January 21, he recommended posting the document to IPFS and ENS. Brantley Millegan, Director of Operations at ENS, quickly reacted to this message. A few hours later, the whitepaper was placed in the system.
Decentralized peer-to-peer networks are very good, as the content in them is almost impossible to censor or remove from the filing of any centralized body or person. That is, cryptocurrency lovers have at least two more sources to preserve the legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto.
Whitepaper hosting by companies
Even if governments strive to preserve information about Bitcoin, then many cryptocurrency companies are even more working on it. For example, you can find the whitepaper on the sites of the Facebook subsidiary Novi, Casa, Square, Coin Center, NYDIG, and the Kraken exchange.
These are just some of the most famous organizations that have tackled the above problem. There are much more of them.
Whitepaper in the blockchain
Apart from websites, the Bitcoin whitepaper can also be found in the cryptocurrency blockchain itself. Here it is stored piece by piece as a PDF file. Crypto enthusiast Jimmy Song told about how to get to the treasured document in his article posted on Twitter.
In short: all you have to do is identify certain pieces of data with multiple signatures and organize them into one file to extract the whitepaper as a PDF. Sounds pretty confusing, right? If it’s too difficult, Song suggests another way. Using a program called bitcoind, anyone can run a Python script to access a document from the blockchain. At least it’s a little easier.
Whitepaper in the real world
The last and probably the most exotic way to admire the legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto is to download a 3D copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper and save it on a local medium. You can do this on the Privacy Pros website, a company that specializes in providing secure solutions for storing private keys.
The render is part of the presentation of the actual product that the company is selling. This is a large plate with the text of the document printed on it. The issue price is $ 199. Such decoration for the interior will clearly give out a real blockchain fan in the buyer.
In addition, it will contribute to the decentralized storage of the whitepaper. An alternative to the large plate is a poster on the wall with the white paper text. Twitter user Tomerrrrrrrrr Strolight demonstrated on his page exactly what the poster looks like.
As you can see, the encroachment of Wright or anyone else on the main information about the first cryptocurrency can in no way be crowned with success. Too many people are aware of Bitcoin, and too many crypto enthusiasts are willing to do anything to preserve the idea of a crypto for future descendants. Therefore, the legacy of Satoshi Nakamoto will remain intact. And forever.
