Satoshi Nakamoto's Emails Shed Light on Bitcoin's Early Days

It has been nearly 14 years since Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic creator of Bitcoin, last communicated publicly. His final known correspondence was an email to early Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn, stating that he had "moved on to other things." The term "known" is crucial here, as it implies that there may be more correspondence that has not been made public. The existing collections of Satoshi's writings are likely incomplete, with private emails, direct messages, and other communications still undiscovered.

Recent revelations have shed new light on Satoshi's correspondence. Early last year, Martti Malmi and Adam Back provided years of emails as evidence for a legal case, and Michel Bauwens, the founder of the P2P Foundation, has also been revealed to possess some of Satoshi's emails. Bauwens shared insights from these communications in a recent interview, providing a glimpse into Satoshi's early interactions with the cryptocurrency community.

In January 2009, Satoshi shared the first release of Bitcoin via the Metzdowd cryptography mailing list, where he had been discussing his white paper and overall vision for the project. It took him five weeks to post about the release on the P2P Foundation’s forum and send a copy to the foundation’s research mailing list. In his message, Satoshi drew parallels between the history of information security and the need for a trustless financial system. He highlighted how strong encryption made unauthorized access impossible, emphasizing the importance of applying the same principles to money.

Bauwens revealed that Satoshi had contacted him before posting on the P2P Foundation forum. Satoshi explained why he was publishing his white paper on their site and offered Bauwens a few bitcoins, but Bauwens did not respond to the proposal. This interaction may have influenced the timing of Satoshi's post on the forum. Bauwens also mentioned that Satoshi contacted him again when Dorian Nakamoto, a Japanese-American systems engineer, was falsely identified as Bitcoin’s creator. Satoshi denied being Dorian and sent Bauwens an email, but Bauwens did not receive the third email Satoshi promised.

Around the same time, three of Satoshi’s online accounts were believed to have been hacked, including his P2P Foundation forum account. The hacker posted a message stating that Satoshi was not Dorian, and it is possible that Bauwens received a similar email from the hacker. Bauwens had early concerns about Bitcoin's energy consumption but saw its potential as a globally scalable, socially-sovereign currency not created by a firm or the state. He praised Bitcoin's open accounting ecosystem as its key innovation, describing it as a post-capitalist invention that transcends and includes capitalism.

Bauwens' interview also touched on his philosophical journey, capitalism, society, and how Bitcoin serves as an exit strategy enabling "arbitrage between nation states." He emphasized that Bitcoin has been democratized, distinguishing it from transfinancial capital that has existed since the 1980s. Despite some misunderstandings about Bitcoin's distribution, the interview provides valuable insights into the early days of cryptocurrency and the vision of its creator.

Tomorrow marks the 16th anniversary of some of the only known bitcoin transactions made by Satoshi. Satoshi and Mike Hearn had been transferring bitcoins back and forth in a live test, discussing the potential addition of comments to transactions. Hearn sent Satoshi 32.51 BTC, who returned them with an additional 50 BTC, and then Hearn sent the 50 BTC back to Satoshi, making them even. Some of these transactions involved different bitcoin addresses, but the 50 BTC from Hearn can still be seen in Satoshi’s address today. Hearn’s address also contains old coins, but it is understood that he no longer has the keys.