Trammell On Satoshi, Bitcoin White Paper Day – Bitcoin Magazine
On October 31, 2008, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto submitted his white paper outlining “Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System” to Metzdowd.com’s cryptography mailing list. Soon after the project’s launch in January 2009, a mailing list subscriber named Dustin Trammell began contributing to the project, asking questions and submitting bugs to the paper’s author and becoming one of the first people on Earth to be “orange pilled” by Bitcoin’s formative outline .
“When I first read it, I remember being impressed that someone had discovered a way to prevent double use of digital currency,” Trammell recalled. “Being quite libertarian minded and interested in alternative currencies and financial systems, I was excited for the software to be released so I could watch it in action.”
Nakamoto’s paper outlined a vision of digital currency that would enable direct payments between parties “without going through a financial institution.” It explained the potential roles of digital signatures, a network of nodes that screen for valid transactions, and the incentives of block rewards and transaction fees. And looking back some 14 years later, other aspects of the introduction seem particularly prescient to Trammell as well.
“When I first read the paper, the importance of the proof-of-work consensus mechanism didn’t really sink in, whereas today I’ve realized that proof-of-work consensus is really the innovation,” he said. “I also read the paper at first with more of an eye for the technology, whereas reading it today it’s a little more obvious that there was also an inherent, generalized philosophy of decentralization.”
Similarly with Satoshi
Trammell, aka I)ruid, is an information security researcher, venture capitalist and avid cosplayer. The first White Paper Day (as October 31st is now known in the Bitcoin community) served as his introduction to digital currencies, but he quickly found that the project generated a sustained interest. He became one of the first Bitcoin miners, back when it was possible to find blocks with a CPU, and he received bitcoin directly from Nakamoto.
“From my brief correspondence with Satoshi, they seemed to have a very pragmatic view of technology and seemed open to suggestions and advice, whether they ended up going in that direction or not,” Trammell explained. “Satoshi and I specifically had a conversation about the uncertainty of being able to send bitcoin by IP address, and Satoshi ended up dropping that feature from the software.”
Based on that original experience, Trammell encourages anyone celebrating this year’s White Paper Day to think of Nakamoto’s groundbreaking work as a practical blueprint, outlining a project that should be somewhat amenable to change if it has community buy-in.
“I think if Satoshi had stayed longer than they did, they would have been open-minded and willing to work with the consensus of the Bitcoin developer community to take Bitcoin in the direction that was best for Bitcoin, whether it stuck to the original outline to the White Paper or not,” he said. “I think Satoshi was pragmatic enough to do what they thought was right for Bitcoin at the time and under potentially ever-changing circumstances.”
From a Cypherpunk mailing list to $396 billion
Despite its inauspicious beginnings and simple nature – running less than 3,500 words, yet introducing the foundations of blockchain technology and a $396 billion asset to the world – the Bitcoin White Paper has become akin to a religious text among die-hard Bitcoiners, and it has inspired pale imitations from countless altcoin pumpers. Hosting the white paper text has become a defiance to those who might try to cooperate with the open source revolution, and as one of Nakamoto’s few messages to the world, it has become much more than a technical roadmap.
But for Trammell, “Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System” ranks as a dictionary-definition white paper, despite any reading between the lines that Bitcoin Core’s proponents or opponents might attempt.
“White papers are essentially a technical description of a problem and a proposed solution to that problem, and Satoshi’s Bitcoin White paper fits that definition perfectly,” he explained. “Anyone who then tries to put a technical project into a white box original definition or description of it, such as the ‘Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision’ people, stunts the project’s growth and development, and ultimately its success. Technology can rarely continue to succeed without modification, and must be free of limitations to do so, such as any perceived limitation of the original design documentation.
Celebrating White Paper Day, 14 years later
With a unique perspective on how the idea of Bitcoin resonated in 2008 compared to today, Trammell noted that, if anything, Nakamoto’s invention is even more desperately needed now than when it was first introduced.
“The economic environment seems much more severe today than it did then,” he explained. “Obviously, Bitcoin was released during the financial crisis of 2008, but since then we have had several other crises and today we are actively observing the failure of fiat currencies around the world … This seems to be an almost perfect storm of the economic environment in which Bitcoin was designed to thrive.”
Still, commemorating the publication date of a short technical paper is a unique Bitcoin thing to do, as much of the world turns its attention to spooky costumes and gimmicks. But refocusing on Bitcoin’s humble, pseudonymous introduction, its technical underpinnings and quietly revolutionary fundamentals can serve this community well, as long as the simplicity of its origins is not exaggerated.
“As a big fan of Bitcoin-themed holidays and a big fan of Halloween, I now celebrate both holidays on October 31st,” Trammell said. “While the Bitcoin White Paper is obviously a very important historical and technical document, we must remember that it is what it was, which is simply a white paper. It is a statement of a problem, and a proposed technical solution. Satoshi also coded the solution and released it to the world, running it for a short time, but beyond that Bitcoin has a life and technology of its own. always grows beyond its original specification, its original function, and its original community, including its founders. This is the nature of technology.”
