Research

[Analysis] Satoshi's vision for bitcoin as told by its predecessors - Tony Sheng

Messari

May 29, 2019 ⋅  1 min read

The technicals of Bitcoin ($BTC) are widely understood to be grounded in 1980s and 90s cypherpunk research, yet the intentions behind each project Satoshi leaned on are different from his own vision, writes Tony Sheng. According to the Bitcoin white paper, Satoshi intended to blot out third-parties from transactions, reducing fees and increasing privacy along the way. Past digital currency schemes often picked up on privacy, like David Chaum's e-cash, digital scarcity, like Hashcash, or radical political ideology, like Dai's b-money. Satoshi's vision most closely links to Nick Szabo's Bit Gold by leaning on the values of sound currency and trust minimization. Looking at Satoshi's writings, trust minimization is perhaps the greatest philosophical vision for Bitcoiners of all stripes.

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