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If you are going to work on software using Liquid, the sidechain of Bitcoin, there are several concepts you need to be familiar with. This article aims at developers and is based on a presentation I held for the Pixelmatic team. Disclaimer: this is an introduction, and it does not cover everything, obviously. And I simplified some explanations on purpose. As a prerequisite, if you are not familiar with Bitcoin, you should read my introduction to Bitcoin here. Special thanks to Sosthene for proofreading my article and for his feedback! Follow him on Twitter. Let's start now! And to discuss Liquid, we need to first discuss: . Elements What Is Elements? It is a fork of Bitcoin extended to be a sidechain platform with these features: Confidential Transactions Issued Assets Federated 2-Way Pegs Signed Blocks Additional opcodes Source: https://elementsproject.org/ OK, whatever, but what’s Liquid? Well, Liquid is . Set as and maintained by Blockstream. Also: an instance of Elements a sidechain of Bitcoin It is managed by a static federation of 15 members, but soon dynamic. It is configured to have a block time of 1 minute. And its main currency is L-BTC (Liquid Bitcoin), the result of the pegging of Bitcoin. Source: liquid.net What Are the Features of Liquid? Let’s see a bit more details on the different features of Liquid/Elements. 📌 2-way pegging of Bitcoin Peg-in BTC into the Liquid Sidechain Pegging in BTC from the Bitcoin main net into the Liquid sidechain consists of depositing BTC into the Liquid Bitcoin wallet that is managed by the Federation. 102 confirmations on the Bitcoin mainnet are then required for you to claim your amount of L-BTC due, and the functionaries then grant you the corresponding amount on the Liquid sidechain. Peg-out BTC from the Liquid Sidechain Pegging out BTC from the Liquid sidechain back into the Bitcoin main net consists of receiving the BTC from an anonymous functionary from his wallet after being granted the amount by the federation. <br> 2 confirmations on Liquid are required for the operation to be allowed. Then the Federation will co-sign a transaction out of their 11 of 15 multisig wallets that are sending out the amount requested to one of the functionaries described anonymously. Finally, the functionary processes the transaction that will grant the BTC to the requester of the peg-out. 🙈 Confidential Transactions Amounts and assets are blinded using a blinding key, but UTXOs are visible There is a master blinding key that is generated from the wallet seed and derived as needed for each address: blinding_private_key := HMAC_SHA256(key=master_blinding_key, msg=script_pubkey) where corresponds to a specific non-confidential public address you want to make confidential script_pubkey That means that a Liquid wallet consists of two things: an extended private key and a master blinding key. Also, every confidential address is a non-confidential address blinded using the master blinding key. So the confidentiality is essentially a layer built on the top of classical HD wallets. Note that you can dump a specific blinding key to allow a tier to unblind it using the RPC . And once in possession of the blinding key, any transaction happening with that specific address will be visible to the tier. unblindrawtransaction FYI Blockstream Green has a feature to open esplora with the blinding keys to allow a tier to see a confidential transaction unblinded on the web. White Paper: Blockstream Specifications: Satoshi Labs 💰 Issued Assets One asset on Liquid/Elements has these attributes (all saved in the blockchain): An asset ID (generated by Liquid) A total supply An optional reissuance key An optional contract hash Reissuance keys are also an asset that comes with at least a total supply of 1 sat L-BTC is also an asset, a special one that can be pegged in and out: Details The bare minimum to issue an asset: elements-cli issueasset 0.00000100 0 The above issues a confidential asset with a total supply of 100 Satoshis and no reissuance key. The contract defines metadata about the asset like its name, ticker, domain owner, precision, etc. : Example the EXOeu token {
 "entity": {
  "domain": "exordium.co"
 },
 "issuer_pubkey": "030cff26f9c0d365f090e24917277e23269d7ef5d7f06dec9f09de9255b8950208",
 "name": "EXO Token Europe",
 "precision": 0,
 "ticker": "EXOeu",
 "version": 0
} Reissuance To be able to reissue, you need only one token (satoshi) of the reissuance asset. If you have issued more than one reissuance asset, it means you can share that asset to others person. Then everybody who has one can reissue the asset. Though be cautious with that use-case because reissuance can be confidential, then it's nearly impossible to verify how much of the asset is in circulation. Registration By default, assets are not registered on the Liquid Asset Registry. That gives you a chance to reissue another asset if you made a mistake before registering it. But once registered, it is irreversible and the tuple domain + ticker will be occupied forever. Details of the asset registration: https://docs.blockstream.com/liquid/developer-guide/proof-of-issuance.html 🪢 Federation The federation is composed of 15 functionaries They can propose blocks to be added to the blockchain in a round-robin fashion They co-sign blocks, a block needs 11 of 15 signatures to be valid They process peg-outs. When the federation will become dynamic, the total number of functionaries may vary dynamically 📃 Liquid RPC interface Being a fork of Bitcoin, we find the same RPCs as its parent, plus some new ones like , , and more: issueasset blindrawtransaction <div class="container h-sm pb-1"> <iframe src=" " class="w-full h-full"> </iframe> </div> https://elementsproject.org/en/doc/0.21.0.0/rpc/ Source: elementsproject.org 🧰 The Liquid Ecosystem For Users White paper Liquid: https://blockstream.com/assets/downloads/pdf/liquid-whitepaper.pdf Compatible Wallets Green: https://blockstream.com/green/ Aqua: https://blockstream.com/aqua/ SideSwap: https://sideswap.io/ Coinos: https://coinos.io/ Specter: https://specter.solutions/ Marina: https://vulpem.com/marina.html Centralized Exchanges Bitfinex: https://www.bitfinex.com/ BTSE: https://www.btse.com/ The Rock Trading: https://www.therocktrading.com/en/ ... DEX/Swap Sideshift<span>.</span>ai: https://sideshift.ai/ SideSwap: https://sideswap.io/ Bisq: https://bisq.network/ coinos: https://coinos.io/ TDEX: tdex.network Bitmatrix: beta.bitmatrix.app Explorers blockstream<span>.</span>info: https://blockstream.info/liquid/ liquid.network: https://liquid.network/ For Developers Documentation About Elements: https://elementsproject.org/ About Liquid Testnet: https://liquidtestnet.com/ About Liquid: https://docs.blockstream.com/liquid/technical_overview.html Node Elements: https://github.com/ElementsProject/elements Cached API/Backend Blockstream ElectRS: https://github.com/Blockstream/electrs Explorer Esplora: https://github.com/Blockstream/esplora Blockstream Registry: https://blockstream.info/liquid/assets Libraries Vulpem Go Elements: https://github.com/vulpemventures/go-elements Vulpem LiquidJS: https://github.com/vulpemventures/liquidjs-lib Vulpem LDK: https://github.com/vulpemventures/ldk Blockstream GDK: https://github.com/Blockstream/gdk/ LibWally: https://github.com/ElementsProject/libwally-core Wallet Tools Mnemonic Code Converter: https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ BIP32 Generator: http://bip32.org/ Environment stack Nigiri: https://github.com/vulpemventures/nigiri Liquid Sidechain Available Environments Alike Bitcoin, Liquid has multiple environments at your disposal. You can set up in your elements.conf the you want to use. chain ( ) Liquid Regtest chain=liquidregtest I am lying to you, actually. You can input any not known chain, and it will create an Elements environment, with the parameters of your choices. So is not a known chain, it will start a chain named with this name. But you could name it differently like andrewschain, ethereum, or whatever. Details: liquidregtest https://github.com/ElementsProject/elements#modes Regtest stands for regression test mode. It's a mode you use to do local development. When initializing your node, you can specify the number of free coins you will create and that will serve as your main currency (your own test Bitcoins). There are no pegging, mining, or federations in place. But you can generate blocks on demand. To simulate a production environment, you can set up a cron task to generate a block every minute. Everything you do stays local in your node. ( ) Liquid Testnet chain=liquidtestnet It was recently deployed. There is no pegging, so if you need coins you can use the official faucet here: . https://liquidtestnet.com/faucet Like in production, the block time is 1 minute. To configure your Elements node for it, here are the instructions: https://docs.blockstream.com/liquid/node_setup.html#connecting-to-liquid-testnet It has an official explorer: https://blockstream.info/liquidtestnet/ Unlike regtest, with testnet is public hence be aware of that. Also, testnet has an official asset registry as well: https://blockstream.info/liquidtestnet/assets That can be helpful to debug issuance and registration of assets, a thing you cannot do with regtest. ( ) Liquid Mainnet chain=liquidv1 The production environment of Liquid. As mentioned before, the block time is 1 minute, and mainnet Bitcoin can be pegged in and out of it. 🎇 Conclusion: The Introduction to Liquid for Developers With this knowledge, you should have enough to get started to work on Liquid. To sum up, here are my advice, if you are willing to: , look at BTCPay and WooCommerce with the Liquid+ plugin: add payment in L-BTC or another Liquid asset on your e-commerce website https://github.com/ndeet/liquid-assets-for-woocommerce , you can either look at the made in JS so good for web apps, or made in C++ and Rust good for desktop or native apps, create a Liquid wallet LDK GDK (either NFT or fungible tokens too), you can look at either or build a custom solution with or issue an asset Blockstream AMP liquidjs go-elements , you can fork off create an NFT trading platform Raretoshi , look at coinos open source projects: . create a SWAP/DEFI platform https://github.com/coinos/ And to go deeper down the rabbit hole, you can start searching on these subjects: Multisignature wallets Taproot Partially signed transactions Atomic swap Have fun! Also published here.

The Developers' Guide to Liquid, One of the First Sidechains of Bitcoin by Blockstream

The State of The Market — March 4, 2019 : $3,759.67 (-2.65%) : $126.80 (-5.53%) : $0.304842 (-2.96%) BTC ETH XRP The market remained stable throughout the weekend. However, early today, there was a substantial crash and nearly $5 Billion has been wiped out from the crypto market. Bitcoin has fallen below $3,800, and it could further fall down to $3,400. All of the top 20 cryptocurrencies are flashing red right now, and major cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and EOS suffered bigger losses. In other news, on Sunday, . At the moment, the reason for the price increase is unknown and members of the Verge community believe that a tweet from Verge founder and lead developer Sunerok could be behind the price increase. Also, . Monahan said that the toxic ‘Ethereum or nothing’ attitude exhibited by some members of the Ethereum community is shameful and damaging to the entire project. According to Monahan, Schoedon was the one person who could simplify Ethereum into digestible tidbits for the wider public and his status as a de facto leader only angered people when they felt he deviated from the ‘Ethereum or nothing’ ideology. Verge (XVG) unexpectedly gained 11% after a mining code malfunction occurred and the privacy coin’s developers began to ponder a switch to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) MyCrypto CEO, Taylor Monahan, recently spoke about what she describes as growing toxicity within the Ethereum community after lead developer Afri Schoedon rage quit the project nearly 2 weeks ago The ‘PayMon’ (PMN) platform is backed by 30 milligrams of 24-karat gold and each PMN token will be worth 156,581 rials or approximately $3.72. According to the banks, PMN’s total supply is capped at 1 billion and 15% of the tokens will be offered to the public, 20% will be on offer to institutional “anchors” looking to purchase a minimum of 300,000 PMN. The remaining 60% will be distributed monthly and 5% will be held by the founding team. Previous reports from Iranian government officials suggested that tokenized assets and cryptocurrency could be used as a method for circumventing U.S. sanctions but the dialogue has now shifted to focus on the technology’s capacity to stimulate economic growth and innovation within Iran’s tech sector. ( ) 1) Iran’s largest banks have revealed plans for tokenizing a variety of assets on a private blockchain platform based on Stellar protocol. Read More This is the first major release in the past 8 months and includes several performance improvements, software bug fixes, additional privacy options, and more detailed documentation. The new features were developed by a team of 50 different contributors from throughout the world who published 1,300 commits to c-lightning’s codebase. There are currently 6,963 LN nodes, and an increase of 18.88% in the past 30 days, with a total network capacity of 740 BTC worth approximately $2.835 million. ( ) 2) Blockstream has released the newest version of c-lightning, version 0.7, the company’s proprietary implementation of the Lightning Network (LN). Read More through the following tweet: “I asked our Compliance team what they thought of Neutrino. Fortunately, they’d just completed an evaluation. Neutrino came in last place on product (out of the 5) but was disqualified anyway due to the risks. However, other factors are important in M&A: cost, culture fit.” This may add further fuel to the current #delete coinbase campaign that was inspired after the exchange announced the controversial acquisition. ( ) 3) Jesse Powell, the CEO of Kraken, recently took a shot at the recent acquisition of Neutrino by Coinbase Read More Subscribe to the Berminal Brief Newsletter Download Berminal App for Free The Berminal Website Berminal Official Telegram Berminal Twitter

Iranian Bank To Tokenize Real-World Assets, And Blockstream Releases New Lightning Network Software

Not every cypherpunk is now working in digital assets, but that’s not the case for Adam Back. He’s a British cryptographer and known cypherpunk, who was born in London, England, in July 1970. He began his journey into computing by teaching himself Basic —the most popular programming language in the 70s and 80s. His academic journey led him to pursue advanced studies in computer science, culminating in a PhD in distributed systems from the University of Exeter. During his doctoral research, Back delved into encryption, electronic cash, and remailers, demonstrating a keen interest in cryptography and its applications. After completing , Back embarked on a career as a consultant, working with both startups and established companies. His work primarily revolved around applied cryptography, where he wrote cryptographic libraries, designed cryptographic protocols, and even analyzed and broke existing cryptographic systems. his education . He famously created a "Munitions" T-shirt adorned with cryptographic code, challenging the restrictive US regulations on civil cryptography. This activism reflects his commitment to defending privacy rights in the digital age, like all cypherpunks. Furthermore, Back is known for his advocacy and activism in promoting privacy and cryptography Hashcash & PoW “Hashcash,” a Proof-of-Work (PoW) system created by Back in 1997, is mentioned in the Bitcoin whitepaper, and it’s considered the precursor of cryptocurrency mining. Let’s remember that PoW is an algorithm or mathematical tool that, when applied, ensures computational effort and energy to carry on a specific task. In this case, PoW was used to create a defense against email spam. This puzzle entails repeatedly hashing a string until it produces a hash with specific characteristics, such as a certain number of leading zeros. This process demands computational resources, deterring spammers who seek to send large volumes of emails inexpensively. By using Hashcash, senders had to solve a computational puzzle, generating a unique identifier for each email. The computational effort ( ) required to generate a Hashcash stamp is typically insignificant for regular email users, as it only involves a few seconds of processing time on a standard desktop computer. However, for spammers who aim to send large volumes of emails, the cumulative computational burden becomes prohibitive, as they would need to expend significant resources to generate Hashcash stamps for each message. Therefore, the cost of computation acts as a deterrent for spammers only. PoW Bitcoin's PoW algorithm requires miners to solve cryptographic puzzles with their own resources in order to create blocks and secure the network. “ ” by Adam Back is the sixth reference in the Bitcoin whitepaper. This mechanism inspired Satoshi Nakamoto, who adapted it for Bitcoin mining. Hashcash - A Denial of Service Counter-Measure Blockstream and Bitcoin Despite being a pioneer of “mining,” participating in the same cypherpunk mailing list in which Bitcoin was born, and also being one of the first people to communicate with Nakamoto online, Back didn’t show real interest in Bitcoin . A year later, he was co-founding Blockstream, a Bitcoin development company and an important for Bitcoin Core —the main Bitcoin implementation so far. In late 2016, he was appointed as the CEO of Blockstream. until 2013 source of funds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG_e3ZCPW5Y One of its core focuses is the provision of infrastructure solutions to enable the seamless operation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This company specializes in various products and services aimed at advancing the functionality, security, and scalability of the Bitcoin network. A key aspect of Blockstream's offerings is its Liquid Network, a federated sidechain designed to facilitate faster and more confidential transactions for Bitcoin and other digital assets. The Liquid Network enhances Bitcoin's functionality by enabling rapid transfers between exchanges and institutions. Additionally, provides tools and services to support the development of decentralized applications (dApps) on the Bitcoin blockchain. It also offers its own hardware wallet (Jade), a Bitcoin mining colocation service, and a whole satellite network to make offline Bitcoin transactions. Blockstream Beyond Mining Adam Back is still working on Bitcoin and mining, but there’s another step to decentralization and protecting privacy rights. While Bitcoin represents a significant advancement in decentralization compared to traditional fiat currencies, newer crypto ecosystems like Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) networks, exemplified by projects like , Obyte offer a higher level of decentralization and privacy protection. DAG systems eliminate the need for miners and intermediaries entirely, employing a block-free structure where transactions are linked to their predecessors and successors by the users who created them. This design, along with other features, helps to prevent double-spending and ensures transaction immutability without the reliance on centralized “validators”. Unlike PoW blockchains where miners may exert influence over transaction sequencing, and unlike PoS blockchains where their block producers can do the same, DAG networks establish transaction order with the help of "Order Providers". These Order Providers regularly post transactions that serve as waypoints for transaction ordering but lack the authority to reject or manipulate transactions. Furthermore, DAG systems prevent selective censorship by linking all transactions, making it impractical for any entity to censor one transaction without affecting others. The resilience of DAG networks against censorship and manipulation lies in their decentralized and open nature. This is demonstrated on a daily basis by the fact that there are no powerful centers of power and no middlemen. of financial decentralization and online freedom is here. The next level Read more from series: Cypherpunks Write Code Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Adam Back Photograph by Blockstream

Cypherpunks Write Code: Adam Back and Hashcash

সাইফারপাঙ্কস কোড লিখুন: অ্যাডাম ব্যাক এবং হ্যাশক্যাশ

Cypherpunks schreiben Code: Adam Back und Hashcash

Código de escritura de Cypherpunks: Adam Back y Hashcash

Cypherpunks écrivent du code : Adam Back et Hashcash

साइफरपंक्स कोड लिखें: एडम बैक और हैशकैश

サイファーパンクがコードを書く: アダム・バックとハッシュキャッシュ

Cypherpunks 작성 코드: Adam Back 및 Hashcash

Cypherpunks escrevem código: Adam Back e Hashcash

Шифропанки пишут код: Адам Бэк и Hashcash

Şifrepunklar Kod Yazıyor: Adam Back ve Hashcash

Cypherpunks viết mã: Adam Back và Hashcash

密码朋克编写代码：Adam Back 和 Hashcash

Adam Back on a Decade of Bitcoin

What are Layer 2 Solutions on Bitcoin and How Do They Work?

A new theory from a YouTuber suggests Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin may comprise of three people who merged their first and last names. This is contrary to previous theories that suggest Satoshi is just one person. Certain individuals suspected to be Satoshi may not have comprised of the ‘persons’ that founded Bitcoin. Of course, you've heard of Bitcoin. You've also heard that its creator is the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. This theory emerged on October 31st, 2008, after the Bitcoin white paper was released via a cypherpunk mailing list under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, leaving the world to speculate whether it was an individual or a group. New evidence has brought us closer to identifying who Satoshi is. Many believe Satoshi Nakamoto is just one person; well, we are about to find out. Satoshi Nakamoto Comprises of 3 persons - New Evidence Reveals Recent evidence presented by a Youtuber - Fooch, suggests that Hal Finney, the first person to receive Bitcoin, and Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, may have attended the same conference, Crypto '98, in Santa Barbara, California in 1998. By checking the event's program info, Fooch discovers a Satoshi in attendance. Searching for the term "Naka" leads him to a page detailing a presentation by Satoshi Hada and Toshiaki Tanaka on The Existence of 3-round Zero-knowledge Protocols at Crypto '98. That's not all. Fooch then searched on Google for Satoshi Hada Nakamoto, and boom, this post on X popped up, showing that the creators of Bitcoin allegedly comprise three researchers who may have also worked with IBM. The archived link leads to an IBM research paper. “Satoshi is allegedly 3 researchers from IBM”. Fooch said. Also, Fooch’s check on Toshiaki Tanaka and Naohiko Uramoto shows that they, at one time, worked at IBM. Right under the post is a comment tagging what seems to be Satoshi Hada’s account. Here's what it looks like 👇🏽 Maybe a coincidence 🧐 Under Satoshi Hada's most recent post on X, which was in 2017 by the way, someone commented by typing 'Satoshi Nakamoto' backward. What does this person know? Also, Satoshi Hada's previous repost on X in 2012 was about the IBM CEO predicting the future of business. Fooch's intelligent investigation was able to connect the dots based on an interview with Fran, Hal Finney’s wife. She recalled her husband communicating with someone named Satoshi, whom he believed to be based in Japan. Evidence from a YouTube video by The Bitcoin Layer corroborates that Satoshi’s working hours align with the PST time zone which is used in Japan. If “They” Are Satoshi, Why Are They Hiding? Fooch is of the opinion that the Japanese are humble people unlike Americans or Australians who may want to prove anything. Well, what do you think about Fooch’s theory? It appears to be the closest sketch to drawing Satoshi Nakamoto though. Another interesting thing that can be noticed is Satoshi's use of “we” in the bitcoin whitepaper - “We propose a…” Other Alleged Satoshis In an adventure to discover the genius behind Bitcoin, various theories have emerged. Some individuals have purposely claimed to be Satoshi despite evidence proving otherwise. Others have been linked to Satoshi because of their early association with Bitcoin, and one unlucky fellow was accused due to a name coincidence. Let's find out who they are and why they may not be 'Satoshi’. Craig Wright An Australian scientist who has been ruled as a fraudster by a judge in the United Kingdom has long claimed to be the founder of Bitcoin. However, his claims lack tangible evidence beyond document forgery, and he has offered many excuses for his inability to prove it, including 'stomping on the hard drive’ that contains files to prove that he created Bitcoin. Dorian Nakamoto When you google Satoshi Nakamoto, the image you often see is that of Dorian Nakamoto, who has denied being the founder of Bitcoin despite the name coincidence. Dorian is a retired physicist. In a 2014 exposé with Newsweek, where he was accused of being the founder of Bitcoin, he claimed he was wrongly quoted when asked about Bitcoin, thinking the question related to his career, and said: “I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it.” When the exposé went viral, Dorian stated that he felt victimized and decided to tell his own side of the story. “I’m saying I’m no longer in engineering. That’s it. And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that’s what I implied.
It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I’m not involved now. That’s not what I meant. I want to clarify that.” Dorian's side of the story attracted sympathy from the Bitcoin community, resulting in donations of over 102 bitcoins which is worth almost a hundred million dollars today. Gavin Andersen It's understandable why some might have suspected Gavin Andresen of being Satoshi Nakamoto. He joined Bitcoin as a core developer in its early stages, creating important features that remain crucial to the Bitcoin ecosystem today. In the documentary "The Bitcoin Story," Gavin repeatedly referred to Satoshi as a "he" and emphasized Satoshi's genius: “He's obviously had some academic training because he wrote this academic whitepaper that is in the style of a peer reviewed academic journal article. He's obviously a genius. I’d love to meet him someday.” “As far as I know, no one has actually met Satoshi. No one knows who he, or she, or they are. I've never talked with Satoshi although I have communicated with him electronically via email or on online forums.
Satoshi started working on Bitcoin he says in 2007, and it actually took him a couple of years to convince himself that he could actually create a system that would work.” Gavin believes he was the last person to speak with Satoshi: “I don't know who might have had the last interaction with Satoshi, it might have possibly been me. My very last email to Satoshi, I actually told him I had been invited to give a talk at the CIA. He had already told me he was going to step back. I don't know if me telling him I was going to visit the CIA was the reason I never heard from him again but I certainly think it didn't help.” Hal Finney If you're a Bitcoin enthusiast, you've likely heard of Hal Finney. He was the first person to receive Bitcoin in a transaction, receiving 10 bitcoins from Satoshi Nakamoto on January 12, 2009. This marked him as an early supporter and contributor to the project. As a cryptographer, Finney recognized the potential of Bitcoin, predicted that it would hit $1 million, and actively contributed to its development. He was a passionate advocate for privacy and saw Bitcoin as a solution to financial transaction privacy concerns. Sadly, Hal passed away on August 28, 2014, after battling with complications from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) for five years. Recent research by Jameson Lopp, a Bitcoin researcher, has provided evidence that Hal Finney was not Satoshi Nakamoto. This research analyzed the timing of a specific Bitcoin transaction and Hal Finney's participation in a race, concluding that they occurred simultaneously, making it impossible for him to have been Satoshi at that time. Adam Back British cryptographer and CEO of Blockstream has also been suspected to be Satoshi because of his early involvement with Bitcoin. In 1997, Adam developed Hashcash, a proof-of-work system that is now used in Bitcoin mining. This invention is referenced in Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin white paper. Through public emails revealed between Satoshi and Adam, it appears both individuals have distinct communication styles and technical expertise. Len Sasseman Len Sassaman, a renowned cryptographer and academic researcher, made significant contributions to the field of cryptography and privacy. While his work indirectly influenced the development of Bitcoin, there is no concrete evidence to support the claim that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. After Sassaman's untimely death in 2011, the Bitcoin community honored him in a unique and lasting way. A tribute was embedded in block 138725 of the Bitcoin blockchain, forever commemorating his legacy. A message in the block reads: "Len was our friend.A brilliant mind, a kind soul, and a devious schemer.” A new theory from a YouTuber suggests Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin may comprise of three people who merged their first and last names. This is contrary to previous theories that suggest Satoshi is just one person. A new theory from a YouTuber suggests Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin may comprise of three people who merged their first and last names. This is contrary to previous theories that suggest Satoshi is just one person. A new theory from a YouTuber suggests Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin may comprise of three people who merged their first and last names. This is contrary to previous theories that suggest Satoshi is just one person. Certain individuals suspected to be Satoshi may not have comprised of the ‘persons’ that founded Bitcoin. Certain individuals suspected to be Satoshi may not have comprised of the ‘persons’ that founded Bitcoin . Certain individuals suspected to be Satoshi may not have comprised of the ‘persons’ that founded Bitcoin Of course, you've heard of Bitcoin. You've also heard that its creator is the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. This theory emerged on October 31st, 2008, after the Bitcoin white paper was released via a cypherpunk mailing list under the name Satoshi Nakamoto, leaving the world to speculate whether it was an individual or a group. New evidence has brought us closer to identifying who Satoshi is. Many believe Satoshi Nakamoto is just one person; well, we are about to find out. Satoshi Nakamoto Comprises of 3 persons - New Evidence Reveals Recent evidence presented by a Youtuber - Fooch, suggests that Hal Finney, the first person to receive Bitcoin, and Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, may have attended the same conference, Crypto '98, in Santa Barbara, California in 1998. By checking the event's program info, Fooch discovers a Satoshi in attendance. Searching for the term "Naka" leads him to a page detailing a presentation by Satoshi Hada and Toshiaki Tanaka on The Existence of 3-round Zero-knowledge Protocols at Crypto '98. The Existence of 3-round Zero-knowledge Protocols Crypto '98. That's not all. Fooch then searched on Google for Satoshi Hada Nakamoto , and boom, this post on X popped up, showing that the creators of Bitcoin allegedly comprise three researchers who may have also worked with IBM. The archived link leads to an IBM research paper. Satoshi Hada Nakamoto “Satoshi is allegedly 3 researchers from IBM”. Fooch said. Also, Fooch’s check on Toshiaki Tanaka and Naohiko Uramoto shows that they, at one time, worked at IBM. Right under the post is a comment tagging what seems to be Satoshi Hada’s account. Here's what it looks like 👇🏽 Maybe a coincidence 🧐 Under Satoshi Hada's most recent post on X, which was in 2017 by the way, someone commented by typing 'Satoshi Nakamoto' backward. What does this person know? Also, Satoshi Hada's previous repost on X in 2012 was about the IBM CEO predicting the future of business. Fooch's intelligent investigation was able to connect the dots based on an interview with Fran, Hal Finney’s wife. She recalled her husband communicating with someone named Satoshi, whom he believed to be based in Japan. Evidence from a YouTube video by The Bitcoin Layer corroborates that Satoshi’s working hours align with the PST time zone which is used in Japan. If “They” Are Satoshi, Why Are They Hiding? Fooch is of the opinion that the Japanese are humble people unlike Americans or Australians who may want to prove anything. Well, what do you think about Fooch’s theory? It appears to be the closest sketch to drawing Satoshi Nakamoto though. Another interesting thing that can be noticed is Satoshi's use of “we” in the bitcoin whitepaper - “We propose a…” Other Alleged Satoshis In an adventure to discover the genius behind Bitcoin, various theories have emerged. Some individuals have purposely claimed to be Satoshi despite evidence proving otherwise. Others have been linked to Satoshi because of their early association with Bitcoin, and one unlucky fellow was accused due to a name coincidence. Let's find out who they are and why they may not be 'Satoshi’. Craig Wright Craig Wright Craig Wright An Australian scientist who has been ruled as a fraudster by a judge in the United Kingdom has long claimed to be the founder of Bitcoin. However, his claims lack tangible evidence beyond document forgery, and he has offered many excuses for his inability to prove it, including 'stomping on the hard drive’ that contains files to prove that he created Bitcoin. Dorian Nakamoto Dorian Nakamoto Dorian Nakamoto When you google Satoshi Nakamoto, the image you often see is that of Dorian Nakamoto, who has denied being the founder of Bitcoin despite the name coincidence. Dorian is a retired physicist. In a 2014 exposé with Newsweek , where he was accused of being the founder of Bitcoin, he claimed he was wrongly quoted when asked about Bitcoin, thinking the question related to his career, and said: Newsweek “I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it.” “I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it.” When the exposé went viral, Dorian stated that he felt victimized and decided to tell his own side of the story. “I’m saying I’m no longer in engineering. That’s it. And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that’s what I implied. It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I’m not involved now. That’s not what I meant. I want to clarify that.” “I’m saying I’m no longer in engineering. That’s it. And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that’s what I implied. It sounded like I was involved before with bitcoin and looked like I’m not involved now. That’s not what I meant. I want to clarify that.” Dorian's side of the story attracted sympathy from the Bitcoin community, resulting in donations of over 102 bitcoins which is worth almost a hundred million dollars today. Gavin Andersen Gavin Andersen Gavin Andersen It's understandable why some might have suspected Gavin Andresen of being Satoshi Nakamoto. He joined Bitcoin as a core developer in its early stages, creating important features that remain crucial to the Bitcoin ecosystem today. In the documentary "The Bitcoin Story," Gavin repeatedly referred to Satoshi as a "he" and emphasized Satoshi's genius: “He's obviously had some academic training because he wrote this academic whitepaper that is in the style of a peer reviewed academic journal article. He's obviously a genius. I’d love to meet him someday.” “He's obviously had some academic training because he wrote this academic whitepaper that is in the style of a peer reviewed academic journal article. He's obviously a genius. I’d love to meet him someday.” “As far as I know, no one has actually met Satoshi. No one knows who he, or she, or they are. I've never talked with Satoshi although I have communicated with him electronically via email or on online forums. Satoshi started working on Bitcoin he says in 2007, and it actually took him a couple of years to convince himself that he could actually create a system that would work.” “As far as I know, no one has actually met Satoshi. No one knows who he, or she, or they are. I've never talked with Satoshi although I have communicated with him electronically via email or on online forums. Satoshi started working on Bitcoin he says in 2007, and it actually took him a couple of years to convince himself that he could actually create a system that would work.” Gavin believes he was the last person to speak with Satoshi: “I don't know who might have had the last interaction with Satoshi, it might have possibly been me. My very last email to Satoshi, I actually told him I had been invited to give a talk at the CIA. He had already told me he was going to step back. I don't know if me telling him I was going to visit the CIA was the reason I never heard from him again but I certainly think it didn't help.” “I don't know who might have had the last interaction with Satoshi, it might have possibly been me. My very last email to Satoshi, I actually told him I had been invited to give a talk at the CIA. He had already told me he was going to step back. I don't know if me telling him I was going to visit the CIA was the reason I never heard from him again but I certainly think it didn't help.” Hal Finney Hal Finney Hal Finney If you're a Bitcoin enthusiast, you've likely heard of Hal Finney. He was the first person to receive Bitcoin in a transaction, receiving 10 bitcoins from Satoshi Nakamoto on January 12, 2009. This marked him as an early supporter and contributor to the project. As a cryptographer, Finney recognized the potential of Bitcoin, predicted that it would hit $1 million, and actively contributed to its development. He was a passionate advocate for privacy and saw Bitcoin as a solution to financial transaction privacy concerns. Sadly, Hal passed away on August 28, 2014, after battling with complications from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) for five years. Recent research by Jameson Lopp, a Bitcoin researcher, has provided evidence that Hal Finney was not Satoshi Nakamoto. This research analyzed the timing of a specific Bitcoin transaction and Hal Finney's participation in a race, concluding that they occurred simultaneously, making it impossible for him to have been Satoshi at that time. Adam Back Adam Back Adam Back British cryptographer and CEO of Blockstream has also been suspected to be Satoshi because of his early involvement with Bitcoin. In 1997, Adam developed Hashcash, a proof-of-work system that is now used in Bitcoin mining. This invention is referenced in Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin white paper. Through public emails revealed between Satoshi and Adam, it appears both individuals have distinct communication styles and technical expertise. Len Sasseman Len Sasseman Len Sasseman Len Sassaman, a renowned cryptographer and academic researcher, made significant contributions to the field of cryptography and privacy. While his work indirectly influenced the development of Bitcoin, there is no concrete evidence to support the claim that he was Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. After Sassaman's untimely death in 2011, the Bitcoin community honored him in a unique and lasting way. A tribute was embedded in block 138725 of the Bitcoin blockchain, forever commemorating his legacy. A message in the block reads: " Len was our friend.A brilliant mind, a kind soul, and a devious schemer .” Len was our friend.A brilliant mind, a kind soul, and a devious schemer

Has Satoshi Nakamoto's Identity Finally Been Revealed?

সাতোশি নাকামোটোর পরিচয় কি অবশেষে প্রকাশ করা হয়েছে?

Wurde die Identität von Satoshi Nakamoto endlich enthüllt?

¿Se ha revelado finalmente la identidad de Satoshi Nakamoto?

L'identité de Satoshi Nakamoto a-t-elle enfin été révélée ?

क्या सातोशी नाकामोतो की पहचान अंततः उजागर हो गई है?

サトシ・ナカモトの正体はついに明らかになったのか？

나카모토 사토시의 정체가 드디어 밝혀졌나요?

A identidade de Satoshi Nakamoto foi finalmente revelada?

Личность Сатоши Накамото наконец раскрыта?

Satoshi Nakamoto'nun Kimliği Nihayet Ortaya Çıktı mı?

Danh tính của Satoshi Nakamoto cuối cùng đã được tiết lộ?

中本聪的身份终于揭晓了吗？

TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 19th, 2024/Chainwire/--Vitalik Buterin, Audrey Tang, and Glen Weyl to Headline the Plurality Summit at ABS2024. The Asia Blockchain Summit 2024 (ABS2024) is set to take place from August 06-08 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. ABS2024 promises to be a marquee event in this year’s tech calendar. ABS2024 is hosted in vibrant Taiwan, recently described by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as one of the most important places in the world for being the center of the AI and computing revolution. The summit is expected to attract over 15,000 attendees from 65 countries. ABS is renowned as the premier global stage for historic moments in the blockchain industry. A highlight was the riveting debate between Arthur Hayes and Nouriel Roubini, which captivated the crypto world and highlighted the intellectual clashes driving the industry forward. Astronaut Chris Hadfield received his first Bitcoin from space via Blockstream satellite at ABS. ABS2024 features a distinguished lineup of keynote speakers and panelists, including Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum; Audrey Tang, Taiwan's first Digital Minister; Glen Weyl, first author of ⿻__Plurality.net__ and founder of Plurality Institute; Steve Yun, TON Foundation President; Song Hongbing, author of Currency Wars; Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3; Scott Moore, co-founder of Gitcoin; Ray Chan, Founder of Memeland and 9GAG; Dr. Tomicah Tillemann, CEO of Project Liberty; David Yu, co-founder and CEO of VeVe; Abighya Anand, the world-renowned Vedic Astrologer; David Mak, CEO of Catizen; Jamie Lin, CEO at Taiwan Mobile and Partner at AppWorks; Claudia Lopez, Former Mayor of Bogotá. The list of speakers is featured on the ABS2024 website. This year’s summit will feature multiple specialized summits, each dedicated to groundbreaking discussions at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Sustainability. The Plurality Summit: The Future of Decentralized Society The Plurality Summit at ABS2024 will take place on August 08. Attendees will delve into critical discussions on topics like decentralized society, the ethics of digital democracy, and reimagining a future where power is distributed across a diverse collective. "At ABS2024, we’ll explore the ideas of Plurality, focusing on how effective collaboration and continuous democracy can build new bridges across diversity." said Audrey Tang, Taiwan's first Digital Minister and co-author of ⿻__Plurality.net__. The Open Summit: Pioneering TON Event The Open Summit at ABS2024 is the largest TON event in Asia. Sponsored by TONX and the TON Foundation, The Open Summit includes three days of workshops, talks, and activities dedicated to the 900 million-strong Telegram ecosystem. ABS2024 Game Zone: Asia’s Largest Web3 Gaming Exhibition The ABS2024 Game Zone, powered by GEDA Esports and Matr1x Fire, features high-profile Web3 games, live tournaments on a professional esports stage, and gaming industry leader panel discussions. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore more than fifty games, including a world-class tournament hosted by Matr1x Fire. Attendees can be prepared to witness visionary leaders, pioneering developers, government officials, and thought leaders from across industries converge and collectively reimagine the world. For more information, users can contact: Asia Blockchain Summit | admin@abs.io About Asia Blockchain Summit (ABS) Asia Blockchain Summit (ABS) is an annual technology event that brings together leading experts, innovators and policymakers from AI, Blockchain, and Sustainability. Hosted in the vibrant city of Taipei, the event serves as a platform to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and networking among key players ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups in the rapidly evolving global blockchain ecosystem. Asia Blockchain Summit attracts over 10,000 attendees from 60+ countries each year. Website | X | Instagram | Linkedin Contact Marketing Director Shin Chen Asia Blockchain Summit 2024 admin@abs.io This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. TAIPEI, Taiwan, June 19th, 2024/Chainwire/--Vitalik Buterin, Audrey Tang, and Glen Weyl to Headline the Plurality Summit at ABS2024. The Asia Blockchain Summit 2024 ( ABS2024 ) is set to take place from August 06-08 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. ABS2024 promises to be a marquee event in this year’s tech calendar. ABS2024 is hosted in vibrant Taiwan, recently described by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as one of the most important places in the world for being the center of the AI and computing revolution. ABS2024 ABS2024 Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang The summit is expected to attract over 15,000 attendees from 65 countries. ABS is renowned as the premier global stage for historic moments in the blockchain industry. A highlight was the riveting debate between Arthur Hayes and Nouriel Roubini, which captivated the crypto world and highlighted the intellectual clashes driving the industry forward. Astronaut Chris Hadfield received his first Bitcoin from space via Blockstream satellite at ABS. Arthur Hayes and Nouriel Roubini, Arthur Hayes and Nouriel Roubini, Chris Hadfield Chris Hadfield ABS2024 features a distinguished lineup of keynote speakers and panelists, including Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum; Audrey Tang, Taiwan's first Digital Minister; Glen Weyl, first author of ⿻__ Plurality.net __ and founder of Plurality Institute; Steve Yun, TON Foundation President; Song Hongbing, author of Currency Wars; Samson Mow, CEO of JAN3; Scott Moore, co-founder of Gitcoin; Ray Chan, Founder of Memeland and 9GAG; Dr. Tomicah Tillemann, CEO of Project Liberty; David Yu, co-founder and CEO of VeVe; Abighya Anand, the world-renowned Vedic Astrologer; David Mak, CEO of Catizen; Jamie Lin, CEO at Taiwan Mobile and Partner at AppWorks; Claudia Lopez, Former Mayor of Bogotá. The list of speakers is featured on the ABS2024 website. Plurality.net ABS2024 ABS2024 This year’s summit will feature multiple specialized summits, each dedicated to groundbreaking discussions at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, and Sustainability. The Plurality Summit: The Future of Decentralized Society The Plurality Summit at ABS2024 will take place on August 08. Attendees will delve into critical discussions on topics like decentralized society, the ethics of digital democracy, and reimagining a future where power is distributed across a diverse collective. The Plurality Summit The Plurality Summit "At ABS2024, we’ll explore the ideas of Plurality, focusing on how effective collaboration and continuous democracy can build new bridges across diversity." said Audrey Tang, Taiwan's first Digital Minister and co-author of ⿻__ Plurality.net __. Plurality.net The Open Summit: Pioneering TON Event The Open Summit at ABS2024 is the largest TON event in Asia. Sponsored by TONX and the TON Foundation , The Open Summit includes three days of workshops, talks, and activities dedicated to the 900 million-strong Telegram ecosystem. TONX TONX TON Foundation TON Foundation ABS2024 Game Zone: Asia’s Largest Web3 Gaming Exhibition The ABS2024 Game Zone, powered by GEDA Esports and Matr1x Fire , features high-profile Web3 games, live tournaments on a professional esports stage, and gaming industry leader panel discussions. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore more than fifty games, including a world-class tournament hosted by Matr1x Fire. GEDA Esports GEDA Esports Matr1x Fire Matr1x Fire Attendees can be prepared to witness visionary leaders, pioneering developers, government officials, and thought leaders from across industries converge and collectively reimagine the world. For more information, users can contact: Asia Blockchain Summit | admin@abs.io About Asia Blockchain Summit (ABS) Asia Blockchain Summit (ABS) is an annual technology event that brings together leading experts, innovators and policymakers from AI, Blockchain, and Sustainability. Hosted in the vibrant city of Taipei, the event serves as a platform to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and networking among key players ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups in the rapidly evolving global blockchain ecosystem. Asia Blockchain Summit attracts over 10,000 attendees from 60+ countries each year. Website | X | Instagram | Linkedin Website Website X X Instagram Instagram Linkedin Linkedin Contact Marketing Director Shin Chen Asia Blockchain Summit 2024 admin@abs.io This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here. This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here . here here

ABS2024 In Taipei: AI, Blockchain, And The Future Of Governance, 15,000 Attendees Are Expected

ABS2024 তাইপেই: AI, Blockchain, and the Future of Governance, 15,000 উপস্থিতি প্রত্যাশিত

ABS2024 in Taipeh: KI, Blockchain und die Zukunft der Regierungsführung, 15.000 Teilnehmer werden erwartet

ABS2024 en Taipei: IA, blockchain y el futuro de la gobernanza, se esperan 15.000 asistentes

ABS2024 à Taipei : IA, blockchain et avenir de la gouvernance, 15 000 participants sont attendus

ताइपे में ABS2024: AI, ब्लॉकचेन और शासन का भविष्य, 15,000 लोगों के शामिल होने की उम्मीद

台北で開催されるABS2024: AI、ブロックチェーン、ガバナンスの未来、15,000人の参加者が見込まれる

ABS2024 타이베이: AI, 블록체인, 그리고 거버넌스의 미래, 15,000명의 참석자 예상

ABS2024 em Taipei: IA, Blockchain e o futuro da governança, são esperados 15.000 participantes

ABS2024 в Тайбэе: искусственный интеллект, блокчейн и будущее управления, ожидается 15 000 участников

ABS2024 Taipei'de: Yapay Zeka, Blockchain ve Yönetişimin Geleceği, 15.000 Katılımcı Bekleniyor

ABS2024 tại Đài Bắc: AI, Blockchain và tương lai của quản trị, dự kiến sẽ có 15.000 người tham dự

ABS2024 台北峰会：人工智能、区块链和治理的未来，预计将有 15,000 名与会者

Satoshi Nakamoto and Bitcoin weren’t exactly popular in the early days, not even among their peers. Privacy-inclined people, who were also experts in programming, and were looking for an alternative to banks and traditional money, were the first ones to read the Bitcoin whitepaper —and most of them didn’t think highly of it. Gregory Maxwell, a self-declared cypherpunk, was one of them. Maxwell is an American programmer well-known for his deep involvement in Bitcoin, to the point of being one of the most important developers of Bitcoin Core (its main implementation) for years. It wasn’t like that since the beginning, though. He first got involved in other open-source and collaborative systems, being an early contributor to Wikipedia and later an employee at the Mozilla Foundation. However, he believed that decentralized consensus wasn’t possible. “When Bitcoin first came out, I was on the cryptography mailing list. When it happened, I sort of laughed. Because I had already proven that decentralized consensus was impossible.” Before really paying enough attention to the Bitcoin code, he was helping to develop the now widely-used Opus Audio Codec. This is an audio format specially designed to compress and transmit audio over the Internet. It offers high-quality sound while using less data, making it ideal for applications like voice calls, video conferencing, and streaming music. Household names like YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, Discord, and Skype use this technology today. Maxwell on Bitcoin Even before Bitcoin, Maxwell was involved in the Reusable Proof-of-Work (RPOW) project created by Hal Finney —who would also turn to Bitcoin later. This system created RPOW tokens that could be transferred between users and exchanged for new units, but it wasn’t exactly like decentralized money. Maxwell was aiming to create conditional transfers (similar to smart contracts) in the platform, but the adoption of it wasn’t high. He came back to Bitcoin in late 2010, as a miner first, just trying to use his GPUs in something useful. Soon after, he paid closer attention to the whitepaper and the source code and changed his mind about the project. He then started to collaborate at a technical level, and he’s been doing it since 2011. In those early days, he focused on protocol design, incentives, and cryptographic review. ** ** In 2014, he also co-founded Blockstream, a company mainly created to boost and fund Bitcoin development. While there, Maxwell helped to create the two-way peg, which makes sidechains possible. These are separate chains connected to a parent distributed ledger, like Bitcoin, enabling experimentation with new features and functionalities without risking the main chain's security. The two-way peg would allow assets to move between chains without losing their value. As a Bitcoin Core developer, Maxwell also helped to build the homomorphic key derivation in Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) #32, which allows for the generation of multiple public and private key pairs from a single master key. Additionally, he co-authored the BIP-9 to establish a standard for light updates (softforks), and the BIP-173 to define a new type of address for SegWit —another improvement update to increase efficiency. He left Blockstream in 2018 and focused on the creation of smart contract features for Bitcoin. That way, he became the author of a new important improvement for Bitcoin, the Taproot update. This technique combines multiple spending conditions into a single signature, enhancing privacy and reducing transaction costs —which encourages the creation of complex smart contracts. Some Concerns, and Time As much as other fellow cypherpunks, Maxwell has also expressed some concerns about Bitcoin's internal functionality. This is the system that really spread the idea of decentralized money, but it’s not perfect. For starters, Maxwell told the story about his early days as a miner, and how the overheating caused by the machines even drew the police to his home. Mining is, indeed, worrisome, given the great amount of electric energy that it needs. Privacy is another issue in the Bitcoin ledger. People tend to believe that Bitcoin is anonymous, but that’s quite far from the truth. Bitcoin is actually pseudonymous, which means instead of names and ID documents it uses cryptographic addresses. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be tracked, especially because every transaction is publicly available in a blockchain explorer. And they include data like amount, date, and connected addresses (senders and recipients). Maxwell is also trying to fix this issue in the first cryptocurrency, as he commented in an interview. “Obviously privacy is a big area where Bitcoin needs improvement and I've tried to come up with fancy technology to improve the situation, but it's always a balancing act. Privacy is the one area where if Bitcoin doesn't get better at it... it might leave the world a worse off place than if Bitcoin hadn't existed. The worst case for Bitcoin privacy is pretty bad.  There has been a lot of progress but more is needed.” Despite current flaws, Maxwell also thinks that mass adoption of cryptocurrencies is just a matter of time. Impediments like insecure hardware, buggy software, tax barriers, or self-custody risks will find a solution over the years, and we’re on our way to it. Obyte as a Step into the Future Obyte has emerged as a compelling alternative to Bitcoin, addressing concerns regarding privacy, and decentralization. Unlike Bitcoin, which requires miners as inevitable intermediaries to approve transactions, Obyte employs a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure where transactions don’t need any approval. This approach eliminates the need for blocks and their creators, making Obyte fully decentralized. Moreover, Obyte offers enhanced privacy features, such as the integration of the privacy coin Blackbytes and in-wallet encrypted chat functionality. These options provide users with greater confidentiality in their transactions and communications, addressing the privacy concerns prevalent in Bitcoin's ledger. By prioritizing decentralization and privacy, Obyte ensures that users can freely conduct transactions on their own and have the option to do so without compromising their sensitive information to public scrutiny, distinguishing it as a more privacy-focused and decentralized option in the cryptocurrency landscape. This ecosystem is really the next step into the future, as many cypherpunks have dreamed of. Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory Hal Finney & RPOW John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Photograph of Gregory Maxwell by Blockstream Satoshi Nakamoto and Bitcoin weren’t exactly popular in the early days, not even among their peers. Privacy-inclined people, who were also experts in programming, and were looking for an alternative to banks and traditional money, were the first ones to read the Bitcoin whitepaper —and most of them didn’t think highly of it. Gregory Maxwell, a self-declared cypherpunk, was one of them. Maxwell is an American programmer well-known for his deep involvement in Bitcoin, to the point of being one of the most important developers of Bitcoin Core (its main implementation) for years. It wasn’t like that since the beginning, though. He first got involved in other open-source and collaborative systems, being an early contributor to Wikipedia and later an employee at the Mozilla Foundation. However, he believed that decentralized consensus wasn’t possible. Maxwell is an American programmer well-known for his deep involvement in Bitcoin, to the point of being one of the most important developers of Bitcoin Core (its main implementation) for years. Maxwell Maxwell he believed he believed “When Bitcoin first came out, I was on the cryptography mailing list. When it happened, I sort of laughed. Because I had already proven that decentralized consensus was impossible.” “When Bitcoin first came out, I was on the cryptography mailing list. When it happened, I sort of laughed. Because I had already proven that decentralized consensus was impossible.” Before really paying enough attention to the Bitcoin code, he was helping to develop the now widely-used Opus Audio Codec. This is an audio format specially designed to compress and transmit audio over the Internet. It offers high-quality sound while using less data, making it ideal for applications like voice calls, video conferencing, and streaming music. Household names like YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, Discord, and Skype use this technology today. Maxwell on Bitcoin Even before Bitcoin, Maxwell was involved in the Reusable Proof-of-Work (RPOW) project created by Hal Finney —who would also turn to Bitcoin later. This system created RPOW tokens that could be transferred between users and exchanged for new units, but it wasn’t exactly like decentralized money. Maxwell was aiming to create conditional transfers (similar to smart contracts) in the platform, but the adoption of it wasn’t high. He came back to Bitcoin in late 2010, as a miner first, just trying to use his GPUs in something useful. Soon after, he paid closer attention to the whitepaper and the source code and changed his mind about the project. He then started to collaborate at a technical level, and he’s been doing it since 2011. In those early days, he focused on protocol design, incentives, and cryptographic review. He then started to collaborate at a technical level, and he’s been doing it since 2011. he focused he focused ** ** In 2014, he also co-founded Blockstream, a company mainly created to boost and fund Bitcoin development. While there, Maxwell helped to create the two-way peg, which makes sidechains possible. These are separate chains connected to a parent distributed ledger, like Bitcoin, enabling experimentation with new features and functionalities without risking the main chain's security. The two-way peg would allow assets to move between chains without losing their value. As a Bitcoin Core developer, Maxwell also helped to build the homomorphic key derivation in Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) #32 , which allows for the generation of multiple public and private key pairs from a single master key. Additionally, he co-authored the BIP-9 to establish a standard for light updates (softforks), and the BIP-173 to define a new type of address for SegWit —another improvement update to increase efficiency. Maxwell also helped to build the homomorphic key derivation in Bitcoin Improvement Proposal ( BIP ) #32 BIP BIP He left Blockstream in 2018 and focused on the creation of smart contract features for Bitcoin. That way, he became the author of a new important improvement for Bitcoin, the Taproot update . This technique combines multiple spending conditions into a single signature, enhancing privacy and reducing transaction costs —which encourages the creation of complex smart contracts. Taproot update Taproot update Some Concerns, and Time As much as other fellow cypherpunks , Maxwell has also expressed some concerns about Bitcoin's internal functionality. This is the system that really spread the idea of decentralized money, but it’s not perfect. For starters, Maxwell told the story about his early days as a miner, and how the overheating caused by the machines even drew the police to his home. Mining is, indeed, worrisome, given the great amount of electric energy that it needs. cypherpunks cypherpunks Privacy is another issue in the Bitcoin ledger. People tend to believe that Bitcoin is anonymous, but that’s quite far from the truth. Bitcoin is actually pseudonymous, which means instead of names and ID documents it uses cryptographic addresses. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be tracked, especially because every transaction is publicly available in a blockchain explorer. And they include data like amount, date, and connected addresses (senders and recipients). Privacy is another issue in the Bitcoin ledger. Maxwell is also trying to fix this issue in the first cryptocurrency, as he commented in an interview. an interview. an interview. “Obviously privacy is a big area where Bitcoin needs improvement and I've tried to come up with fancy technology to improve the situation, but it's always a balancing act. Privacy is the one area where if Bitcoin doesn't get better at it... it might leave the world a worse off place than if Bitcoin hadn't existed. The worst case for Bitcoin privacy is pretty bad.  There has been a lot of progress but more is needed.” “Obviously privacy is a big area where Bitcoin needs improvement and I've tried to come up with fancy technology to improve the situation, but it's always a balancing act. Privacy is the one area where if Bitcoin doesn't get better at it... it might leave the world a worse off place than if Bitcoin hadn't existed. The worst case for Bitcoin privacy is pretty bad.  There has been a lot of progress but more is needed.” Despite current flaws, Maxwell also thinks that mass adoption of cryptocurrencies is just a matter of time. Impediments like insecure hardware, buggy software, tax barriers, or self-custody risks will find a solution over the years, and we’re on our way to it. Obyte as a Step into the Future Obyte has emerged as a compelling alternative to Bitcoin, addressing concerns regarding privacy, and decentralization. Unlike Bitcoin, which requires miners as inevitable intermediaries to approve transactions, Obyte employs a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure where transactions don’t need any approval. This approach eliminates the need for blocks and their creators, making Obyte fully decentralized. Obyte Obyte Obyte employs a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure where transactions don’t need any approval. Moreover, Obyte offers enhanced privacy features, such as the integration of the privacy coin Blackbytes and in-wallet encrypted chat functionality . These options provide users with greater confidentiality in their transactions and communications, addressing the privacy concerns prevalent in Bitcoin's ledger. Blackbytes Blackbytes chat functionality chat functionality By prioritizing decentralization and privacy, Obyte ensures that users can freely conduct transactions on their own and have the option to do so without compromising their sensitive information to public scrutiny, distinguishing it as a more privacy-focused and decentralized option in the cryptocurrency landscape. This ecosystem is really the next step into the future, as many cypherpunks have dreamed of. Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Read more from Cypherpunks Write Code series: Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Tim May & Crypto-anarchism Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Wei Dai & B-money Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Nick Szabo & Smart Contracts Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Adam Back & Hashcash Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer Eric Hughes & Remailer St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory St Jude & Community Memory Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW Hal Finney & RPOW John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF John Gilmore & EFF Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto & Bitcoin Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Featured Vector Image by Garry Killian / Freepik Freepik Freepik Photograph of Gregory Maxwell by Blockstream Photograph of Gregory Maxwell by Blockstream Blockstream Blockstream

Cypherpunks Write Code: Gregory Maxwell and Bitcoin Core

সাইফারপাঙ্কস কোড লিখুন: গ্রেগরি ম্যাক্সওয়েল এবং বিটকয়েন কোর

Cypherpunks schreiben Code: Gregory Maxwell und Bitcoin Core

Código de escritura de Cypherpunks: Gregory Maxwell y Bitcoin Core

Cypherpunks écrit du code : Gregory Maxwell et Bitcoin Core

साइफरपंक्स ने कोड लिखा: ग्रेगरी मैक्सवेल और बिटकॉइन कोर

サイファーパンクがコードを書く: グレゴリー・マクスウェルとビットコイン・コア

Cypherpunks의 코드 작성: Gregory Maxwell 및 Bitcoin Core

Código de gravação Cypherpunks: Gregory Maxwell e Bitcoin Core

Шифропанки пишут код: Грегори Максвелл и Bitcoin Core

Şifrepunklar Kod Yazıyor: Gregory Maxwell ve Bitcoin Core

Cypherpunks viết mã: Gregory Maxwell và Bitcoin Core

密码朋克编写代码：Gregory Maxwell 和比特币核心

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