Bitcoin White Paper Turns 14 Today With 23% of Consumers Owning Crypto

Fourteen years ago today, a still unidentified person or group using the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” sent out an email about a nine-page white paper outlining principles for a blockchain-based digital currency that became bitcoin.

Sent to a cryptography enthusiast group’s mailing list called Cyperpunk on Oct. 31, 2008, the email began, “I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party,” and gave readers a link to the white paper.

By 2021, 23% of consumers — an estimated 59.6 million people — owned at least one cryptocurrency, according to “The U.S. Crypto Consumer: Cryptocurrency Use in Online and In-Store Purchases,” a PYMNTS and BitPay collaboration.

One key element of the principles outlined in the white paper was the solution of cashless spendings’ “double-spend” problem — the ability to spend the same funds twice — by using transactions that are time-stamped and unanimously verified by validators, CoinDesk reported Monday (Oct. 31).

Launching as it did during the great recession, bitcoin was said to offer autonomy from banks and governments and began circulating among users amidst much debate about its best use cases, its value and the ways by which to persuade others to use it, NerdWallet reported Monday.

At the time as well as today, the bitcoin white paper has inspired efforts to undermine the power of tech companies and others that are focused on centralized power and profit, Cointelegraph reported Monday.

Fourteen years after the sending of that email and distribution of the white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto remains unidentified and has not been heard from since April 23, 2011, according to the CoinDesk report.

As PYMNTS reported Aug. 2, the real identity of Nakamoto remains a matter of perpetual curiosity in the crypto community.

Read more: Who Is Bitcoin Creator ‘Satoshi Nakamoto,’ and Why Does He Still Matter?

That is likely to continue as “bitcoin,” “blockchain” and “cryptocurrency” have become words that most people have at least heard of since the industry exploded into mainstream public consciousness.

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