Post #118

Re: The Origins of Bitcoin

StJohn Piano 31 March 2026

In series: Bitcoin

I think the primary inspiration for Bitcoin was Adam Back's Hashcash, not Wei Dai's b-money.

1) Satoshi's email to Wei Dai indicates that he had not previously read the b-money post:

"I was very interested to read your b-money page. ... Adam Back (hashcash.org) noticed the similarities and pointed me to your site."

2) The Bitcoin whitepaper cites b-money only as support:

"transactions must be publicly announced [1]"

3) The Bitcoin whitepaper cites Hashcash by name:

"a proof-of-work system similar to Adam Back's Hashcash"

4) The format and style of the Bitcoin whitepaper closely matches the Hashcash paper. In contrast, the b-money post is plaintext.

NB: The Hashcash paper cites b-money.

5) Satoshi's first post cites Hashcash by name:

"New coins are made from Hashcash style proof-of-work."

Replies (1)