A person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper on October 31, 2008.
This paper describes how the peer-to-peer payment system, which would revolutionize the world of financial technology, works.
It should be noted that it remains unknown who the creator of the first cryptocurrency really is.
The main characteristics of digital gold were described by Nakamoto in the preface of the document:
“A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending. We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network. The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work.”
The Bitcoin network was launched back in January 2009. Two years later, Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared and no one has been able to find out who he is.
In 15 years, the cryptocurrency has come a long way to become a financial instrument with a market capitalization of $666 billion.
