1.7Lesson 7 of 8
Who created Bitcoin
This lesson answers
- Who created Bitcoin?
- Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
- When was Bitcoin created?
- Does Satoshi still control Bitcoin?
Bitcoin was created by someone using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, who published a short paper describing it in October 2008 and started the network in January 2009. Nobody knows who Satoshi is, or whether it was one person or a small group.
- Days since the first block
- …
- Blocks since then
- …
Every one of those blocks links back to the first one Satoshi made on 3 January 2009.
See it on satoshis.watch →The first two years
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 31 Oct 2008 | Satoshi sends the Bitcoin paper to a cryptography mailing list. |
| 3 Jan 2009 | The first block is made, with a newspaper headline written into it. |
| 9 Jan 2009 | The first version of the software is released for anyone to run. |
| 12 Jan 2009 | The first payment between two people: 10 bitcoin to Hal Finney, in block 170. See how a payment works. |
| 22 May 2010 | Laszlo Hanyecz pays 10,000 bitcoin for two pizzas, one of the first purchases of real goods. |
| 12 Dec 2010 | Satoshi's last post on the Bitcoin forum. |
| April 2011 | Satoshi's last known emails to other developers, saying they have moved on to other things. |
What is known, and what isn't
Satoshi wrote in fluent English, worked on Bitcoin for about two years, and corresponded with a handful of early developers by email and forum posts that are still public. Satoshi never revealed a name, a country or a face. Many coins mined in Bitcoin's first year are widely believed to be Satoshi's, and most of them have never moved.
Several people have claimed to be Satoshi or been named by journalists. None has given the one proof that would settle it: a message signed with keys known to be Satoshi's. In 2024 a court in London ruled that one well-known claimant, Craig Wright, is not Satoshi and did not write the paper.
Why it doesn't change how Bitcoin runs
Bitcoin's rules are enforced by the computers that run it, not by its creator. Satoshi handed the software to other developers before leaving, and any change today has to win over the people running Bitcoin, whoever proposes it. See who runs Bitcoin.
Check yourself
Practice, not a test. Think of your answer first, then reveal it.
1What did Satoshi publish on 31 October 2008?Reveal
A nine-page paper describing Bitcoin, sent to a cryptography mailing list.
2How could someone prove they are Satoshi?Reveal
By signing a message with keys that are known to be Satoshi's, such as those of the earliest blocks. Nobody has done that in public.
3Could Satoshi change Bitcoin's rules today?Reveal
No more than anyone else. A change only counts if the people running Bitcoin choose to run software that includes it.
Sources
- Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (2008).
- Satoshi's posts and emails: Satoshi Nakamoto Institute archive.
- COPA v Wright, High Court of England and Wales, 2024.
- Laszlo Hanyecz, Pizza for bitcoins?, bitcointalk.org, May 2010; the payment is transaction a1075db5…d48d in block 57,043.
- Block dates and the age of the chain: read from a Bitcoin node.