EPISODE 12 · 5:45 ·
Bitcoin:
The Day Everything Changed
Every large change in history has a date. The change from money run by institutions to money run by rules has one too. It is quieter than the other dates, which is part of what makes it different.
The episode
After the whitepaper appeared on October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto spent about two months answering questions on the cypherpunk mailing list. How would the network scale? How would it stop a coin from being spent twice? How would it avoid being taken over by a handful of large miners? Each question was answered in detail, often with code.
The rules were set to be different from everything that had come before. Twenty-one million coins, forever. No CEO to print more. No government to inflate them away. No bank to freeze an account.
The network that launched on January 3, 2009, is still running. Every ten minutes it writes a new block. Every four years it halves the rate at which new coins appear. Every one of those events happens on a schedule no individual, corporation, or country can change.
You can join the network this afternoon without asking anyone. No application form. No background check. No minimum balance. A piece of software, a little electricity, and an internet connection are enough.
On January 3, 2009, at 6:15 p.m., Satoshi launched the network and embedded a sentence from that day's Times of London into its first block: "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." Eight days later a cryptographer named Hal Finney announced on Twitter that he was running the software: "Running bitcoin." The next day his computer received the first peer-to-peer Bitcoin transaction. The network had its second node, which is the difference between an idea and a system.
Key moments
Transcript
October 31st 2008 I sent the white paper then I waited would anyone care would they see what I saw for days almost nothing then the replies came questions skepticism technical changes how does this scale what about double spending this has been tried before good they were reading it they were thinking over the next weeks there was only one question would this actually run if you want to solve this puzzle and win Bitcoin you need every clue subscribe now so you don't miss the next episode they challenged every assumption the network won't scale so I optimized block propagation minors will centralize so I designed difficulty adjustments double spending is unsolvable
so I proved it mathematically but what if I'm wrong what if there's a flaw I can't see every question made it stronger every doubt forced me to build it better this wasn't just my project anymore it was becoming ours I wasn't building this for Wall Street not for bankers not for governments I was building it for people who play by the rules and still lose everything when the rules change for anyone whose savings can be wiped out by a decision they never voted on for everyone told in a thousand different ways that someone else knows better how to control your future they needed a way out even if
they didn't know it yet Bitcoin isn't about me it never was it was about every person who was excluded exploited or ignored by the system the rules had to be different 21 million coins forever no CEO can print more to save his friends no government can inflate it away to fund wars no bank can freeze your account because they don't like your politics every transaction is visible every rule is verifiable every person is equal you don't need to trust me you don't need to trust anyone the code is the truth and the code belongs to everyone if I could just launch it if it could just survive those first days
what do we call the very first Bitcoin block the one that started everything December became January the world celebrated I kept working every line of code reviewed every function tested this is it once I press this button there's no going back what if it crashes in the first hour what if there's a bug I missed what if no one ever runs this what if I'm just wrong for everyone who discovered too late that trust was never guaranteed they needed this even if they didn't know it yet January 3rd 2009 6 15 p.m. I embedded a message in the first block the time's headline Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks
let them never forget why this exists it's done it's alive I pressed enter and gave the world an alternative from that moment on no one could stop it not even me not a company not a foundation not a leader just code running waiting for anyone brave enough to join this isn't mine anymore it belongs to whoever needs it eight days later a message Hal Finney a cypher punk a believer two words that changed everything I wasn't alone anymore every node that came online after that every person who chose this instead of giving up you're all part of the same decision to stop waiting for permission the seed words are yours the puzzle is
yours solve it and prepare for what comes next you
Concepts introduced
- The first block (Genesis block)
- The first block of the Bitcoin network, mined on January 3, 2009, carrying a headline about bank bailouts as its timestamp and message.
- A hard ceiling on the supply (21 million cap)
- The rule, written into the Bitcoin software, that no more than 21 million coins will ever exist.
- One network, many keepers (Full node)
- A computer that keeps its own complete copy of Bitcoin's rules and checks every transaction against them, needing nobody's permission to do so.