Hear, Hear! Cryptoverse Celebrates Bitcoin Whitepaper’s First Decade
October 31, 2018 by William Peaster
From literally worthless to a global alternative currency, bitcoin is upon its first decade in existence, and what a long, heady trip it’s been. With the Bitcoin whitepaper now 10 years old, builders and users across the cryptocurrency community took to social media in droves to celebrate its author Satoshi Nakamoto and the nine pages that started it all.
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The Conception, 10 Years On
On October 31st, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper, a nine-page outline of a “P2P e-cash” system that solved the Byzantine General’s Problem.
Therein, Nakamoto described a novel digital cash system that allowed trustless commerce, minted permanently scarce electronic tender via “proof-of-work,” and prevented double spending, or digital counterfeiting.
From an adoption standpoint, what’s ensued over the next 10 years has been nothing short of stunning.
Whereas in bitcoin’s earliest days it was used for gimmick purchases of pizzas and socks, now the digital currency is being rapidly embraced in various direct and indirect ways by some of the world’s most consequential financial powerhouses, including Fidelity, Intercontinental Exchange Inc., and Goldman Sachs.
To that, some of bitcoin’s biggest proponents would say it doesn’t matter what Wall Street does — BTC has come this far without them and represents an existential threat to Big Banking, love it or leave it. Others would say the surging institutional interest signals bitcoin’s mainstream adoption is only just getting started.
Wherever you stand, it’s clear there’s no going back: whether bitcoin ultimately thrives or fails, it can no longer be ignored by the powers-that-be. In large part that dynamic has arisen because the genesis cryptocurrency can be used permissionlessly by anyone.
That’s what Nakamoto proposed with the publication of their whitepaper 10 years ago. It’s a proposal that led to an alternative global currency that’s held up to date, and it’s a proposal that may end up changing the nature of money forever.
Plenty of Gratitude, Celebration
Nakamoto may be long gone now, but they had no shortage of well wishers showing out on social media to celebrate Bitcoin’s decade anniversary.
Happy birthday Bitcoin!
10 years since Satoshi selflessly and anonymously gave Bitcoin to all of us.
Thank you for changing our lives! pic.twitter.com/Ep89hZrQNv— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) October 31, 2018
Some, like Bitcoin analyst and former Google engineer Vijay Boyapati, marked the occasion in asserting that Nakamoto’s whitepaper and ensuing cryptocurrency have actualized a major pivot point in the entire of money.
1/ 10 years ago today (Fri 6:10pm 2008-10-31 UTC) Satoshi Nakamoto announced the creation of #Bitcoin to the cryptography mailing list. Satoshi’s creation is the most important innovation to money (itself the most important good in any society) in a thousand years.
A thread ? pic.twitter.com/22R1ZNMYE1
— Vijay Boyapati (@real_vijay) October 31, 2018
Others, like MAD Magazine, got in on the fun in more lighthearted fashion.
It’s the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin today! To celebrate, Bitcoin employees are having a virtual birthday cake that nobody really understands how to eat and which might suddenly shrink or expand for no reason, or — oh, never mind, hackers in Indonesia just stole the cake.
— MAD Magazine (@MADmagazine) October 31, 2018
No one knows what happens next, or where precisely Bitcoin goes from here. But what is obvious is that Bitcoin’s position today is lightyears ahead, both in a technical sense and in a popularity sense, of where it was a decade ago.
Let’s see if the cryptocurrency can maintain its insurgent steam over the next one.
What’s your take on the Bitcoin whitepaper? What will the next 10 years look like for BTC and its network? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images via Bitcoin.org, Pixabay
