The Bitcoin whitepaper was published in 2008 under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and later uploaded to a single website: Bitcoin.org. It was published under an MIT license, along with the rest of the code, making it freely available for all to distribute.
But this came under attack recently, when Coingeek chief scientist Craig Wright—who claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto but hasn’t signed a transaction with Nakamoto’s PGP key to prove it—issued legal demands to both Bitcoin.org to take down the whitepaper.
Bitcoin.org refused and in solidarity, Bitcoiners across the world have come together to upload the Bitcoin whitepaper in as many places as possible, and in the most secure places possible. Here are some of the best ways that the Bitcoin whitepaper is being secured around the world.
1.Governments hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper
Several national governments have uploaded the Bitcoin whitepaper—titled Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer-Electronic-Cash-System— directly to their websites, including Colombia, Estonia and the US.
The beginning of the Bitcoin whitepaper. Image: Bitcoin.org.
“We are happy to preserve the original Bitcoin whitepaper here on our website as a source of inspiration for future innovators looking to understand how to use blockchain technology in support of facilitating cross-border business and other applications,” the Estonian government website reads.
Colombia’s Jehudi Castro, an advisor to President Ivan Duque Marquez, posted a link to the whitepaper via Twitter.
🇨🇴 And Colombia’s government has also posted the Bitcoin whitepaper! @JCastroS is an advisor to the Colombian President, the official government site is https://t.co/Car1PEKke8 and this is their URL shortener. https://t.co/PoKXgSRGJ0
The United States government also publicly hosts the Bitcoin whitepaper, which can be found on the US Sentencing Commission’s website. In addition, Representative Patrick McHenrey of the House Financial Services Committee has hosted a copy of the whitepaper on his congressional website.
“Life is a blockchain and then you die.”
These sharp, cruel words are the first things I see as my disembodied, virtual form floats into the secretive Bitcoin Cyber City.
The next three things I witness are even more bizarre. A kitty-shaped pink neon light winks out into the street, there’s a skeleton slumped over the handlebars of a motorcycle, and the huge yellow eyes of a giant pumpkin stare me down. I feel unnerved, an outsider in this godforsaken world.
This sign greeted me into the virt...
The Bitcoin whitepaper also appeared in the city of Miami’s municipal website, thanks to Mayor Francies Suarez, who is trying to make Miami into a global hub for crypto innovation.
The City of Miami believes in #Bitcoin and I’m working day and night to turn Miami into a hub for crypto innovation.
The Bitcoin whitepaper is also being hosted on The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Ethereum Name Service (ENS).
IPFS is a peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. Each file is uniquely identified using specific content-addressing. (At the bottom of each Decrypt article, there’s an IPFS link to view the article on the network, and if you’re using Brave, you will be able to view it without running your own IPFS node.)
You can now read all your favourite Decrypt articles on the InterPlanetary File System, the decentralized file-sharing network that opens the door for anyone to take part in the advent of the web3 age.
IPFS is a peer-to-peer protocol for file-sharing and website hosting that runs across thousands of computers. It's an open-source project with a community of more than four thousand contributors around the world, developed by the team at Protocol Labs, an open-source R&D lab.
Instead of having re...
Ethereum Name Service also serves as an open naming system that’s built on the Ethereum blockchain and uses domain names. The platform maps human-readable names in place of long and hard to remember traditional, complex addresses. This makes it easier to send money to other ENS users.
On January 21, a Twitter user suggested ENS should host it. It took just two hours for Brantly Millegan, director of operations at ENS, to set up a page that hosts the Bitcoin whitepaper. You can view it here.
3.Companies hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper
There are now many crypto companies proudly hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper on their websites. This includes companies like Facebook subsidiary Novi, and self-custody app Casa.
“Nine pages, 3,641 words, 21,443 characters to reimagine finance,” said Jameson Lopp, co-founder and CTO of Casa, who also hosts the whitepaper on his own website.
Another major company that has begun hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper is Square, which bought $50 million worth of Bitcoin last October.
Other companies hosting the Bitcoin whitepaper include policy think tank Coin Center, Bitcoin financial services firm NYDIG, and Kraken, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
4.Accessing the Bitcoin whitepaper on the blockchain
Instead of visiting any one of these websites, the Bitcoin whitepaper can also be accessed in the Bitcoin blockchain itself. It’s held as a PDF but has to be pieced together.
“I’ve tested this and indeed it is in the whitepaper. Good to know it’s literally in the blockchain,” said Bitcoin author and developer Jimmy Song.
I would like to remind everybody that the #Bitcoin whitepaper is embedded in your archival node should you want it: https://t.co/qG9ONQoP3k
To do this, all you have to do is identify certain pieces of multi sig data and organize them into a single file to extract the whitepaper as a pdf. Simple, right?
If that’s too complicated, Song suggests, by using a program called bitcoind, any user can run a python script to access the whitepaper from the blockchain. At least that’s a bit easier.
5.Bringing the Bitcoin whitepaper to life
If visiting websites or searching the Bitcoin blockchain isn’t for you, you can get a copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper by printing out a 3D render of the document. Then it’s effectively in cold storage, protected from the whims of the Internet—and accessible even without WiFi.
“Check out this 3D render of the Bitcoin whitepaper,” said Twitter user Mike In Space, adding, “You’ll notice that the wall hanger is built right into the backing.”
This 3D render of the Bitcoin whitepaper is offered by Privacy Pros, a company dedicated to providing physical offline backup solutions for private keys.
But that’s not all. It’s also possible to keep a version of the Bitcoin whitepaper safe at home in physical form. Posters of the Bitcoin whitepaper are being sold on the Touch of Modern website.
“To some, Bitcoin may be as much of an enigma as the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. But to blockchain enthusiasts, it’s an important and groundbreaking work that heralds the next evolution in how we deal with and think of wealth,” the website says.
Anthony Pompliano, a high-profile crypto investor and social media personality, is looking to take his influence public—literally.
ProCap Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company led by Pompliano, filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday to raise $200 million in an initial public offering.
The company plans to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker “PCAPU,” with each $10 unit comprising a Class A ordinary share and one-third of a warrant.
Bitcoin Rewards App Fold...
The story of a Wales man who believes he accidentally threw away $750 million worth of Bitcoin is now poised to get the Hollywood treatment.
On Wednesday, a new Los Angeles-based production company, Lebul, announced that it secured the exclusive rights to tell the story of James Howells, an IT engineer who mined 8,000 BTC back in 2009—when the tokens were effectively worthless—and then lost them all.
Howells maintains that a former lover threw away a hard drive containing the tokens back in 20...
Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao claims to have been offering advice on how to set up crypto strategic reserves to countries across the globe. And he thinks that Europe is failing to keep up with adoption.
“We are talking with many countries, advising on how to set up a crypto strategic reserve,” Zhao said on a Token2049 panel. “Very basic fundamental stuff like what wallet solutions to use? Do you use a professional custody solution, or do you use your own cold wallets?”
Th...
