The Bitcoin White Paper: 12. Conclusion… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” We’ve reached the end of The Bitcoin White Paper. Satoshi wraps up his world changing proposal. “12. Conclusion We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust. We started with the usual framework of coins … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 11. Calculations… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Here comes the heavy math part of The Bitcoin White Paper. Be prepared for many formulas. Satoshi goes into the probability that the Bitcoin network could be attacked. “11. Calculations We consider the scenario of an attacker trying … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 10. Privacy… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Now we have the 10th section of the Bitcoin White Paper. Privacy is a great feature of the Bitcoin network. Privacy can be a problem if you reveal which public keys are yours. It’s even worse if someone … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 9. Combining and Splitting Value… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Bitcoin can be combined and split up. The smallest unit is a “Satoshi” aka “sat” and there are 100 million sats in a Bitcoin. If needed, Bitcoin can be updated to go into even smaller … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 8. Simplified Payment Verification… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” The Bitcoin White Paper continues to section 8. What is the simplest way to securely verify a payment? Read below to find how Bitcoin does it. “8. Simplified Payment Verification It is possible to verify payments … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 7. Reclaiming Disk Space… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Satoshi moves onto to keeping Bitcoin efficient. Keeping a running ledger of all the transactions on everyone’s node can seem scary. How do we keep things under control so the average user can run a Bitcoin … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 6. Incentive… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Satoshi continues the Bitcoin White Paper with a section called Incentive. Incentives are crucial to the success of any new system. Why should anyone take part in the Bitcoin network? Why should anyone take the time and CPU … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 5. Network… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Satoshi goes into detail about what the Bitcoin Network is. “5. Network The steps to run the network are as follows: New transactions are broadcast to all nodes. Each node collects new transactions into a block. Each node … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 4. Proof-of-Work… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” Now Satoshi tackles the problem of how to make bitcoin hard to produce. It can’t be like digital dollars that the Federal Reserve can create out of thin air. “4. Proof-of-Work To implement a distributed timestamp server on … Read more
The Bitcoin White Paper: 3. Timestamp Server… “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System Satoshi Nakamoto October 31, 2008” How do you measure time in the Bitcoin Network? How do you ensure the ledger of transactions goes from older to newer? You use a timestamp server. “3. Timestamp Server The solution we propose begins with a … Read more