Introduction Part 1 - Genealogy of bitcoin technology The technological developments leading to bitcoin. This part is a technological history that reviews the technological developments that Bitcoin builds on. There are a few strands that developed more or less independently that combine into Bitcoin. Once they are explained it is possible to give a deeper explanation of how Bitcoin works. This understanding will inform the remaining parts of the book. Chapter 1: Cryptography The purpose of cryptography is to keep information private by preserving confidentiality, integrity and access to it. Public private key encryption Hashing Zero knowledge proof Chapter 2: Virtual Money In this chapter we will go into the history of electronic or virtual money before bitcoin. Digicash E gold Bitgold b Money Hash cash Chapter 3: Peer-to-peer technology The internet of today is a centralized type of computing working through a number of web servers that function in a hierarchy.

Properties of p2p networks Discovering a peer Secure sharing File Sharing from Napster to BitTorrent Chapter 4: Proof of work An inherent problem with the networked world is that accessing and processing information is essentially free, which makes certain types of disruptive behavior easy, which we see in denial of service attacks, spam mail and robocalling. This brings new problems that did not exist when it cost significant money to send a letter, read a paper or book or make a phone call. DDoS Spam Money transactions Chapter 5: Public record Since the time of the code of Hammurabi, the purpose of a public record has been clear: to establish indisputable truth. While this is seemingly the opposite of the privacy and confidentiality entailed by cryptography it serves the purpose of making information shared and immutable. Historical technologies of public record The purpose of public records The accounting revolution and the development of ledgers, double entry bookkeeping to triple entry bookkeeping Chapter 6: Bitcoin From the previous chapters we are now able to piece together how bitcoin and the block chain works. Virtual money - The Bitcoin Encrypting for privacy - The Wallet Public record - The Blockchain Peer to peer network - The Miners Proof of work - Transactions (cryptographic proof and the consensus algorithm) Part 2 - Still searching for Satoshi - who is the historical Satoshi Nakamoto? Much writing about Bitcoin has focused on who the historical person or persons behind Satoshi Nakamoto is. This part will apply a historical critical perspective to this question and sift through the evidence in order to create a better understanding of what we can and cannot say about the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. Chapter 7: Who dunnit? A review of previous identifications of the person behind Satoshi.

This has previously taken the shape of investigative journalism in the style of true crime reporting Joshua Davis, The New Yorker 2011 Adam Penenberg, Fast Company 2011 Alec Liu, Vice 2013 John Markoff, New York Times 2013 Andy Greenberg, Forbes 2014 Leah McGrath Goodman, Newsweek 2014 Skye Grey, blog 2014 Dominic Frisby, Bitcoin the future of money 2014 Nathaniel Popper, New York Time 2015 Andy Greenberg, Gwern Branwen, Wired 2015 Sam Biddle, Gizmodo 2015 Izabella Kasminska, Financial Times 2016 Evan Ratliff, Wired 2019 Other sources - twitter, youtube, tv Chapter 8: Ad fontes-What do the sources say? By focusing on the sources we are able to extract a number of key characteristics to look for: Historical analysis - establishes a couple of key points for historical analysis The bitcoin whitepaper - the most crucial piece of evidence The forums - the p2p forum and later the bitcoin forum are sources where Satoshi discussed with peers about bitcoin The code - the code in itself may also contain clues The blockchain - the record of transactions also provides an insight into the origin of bitcoin Summary - what can the sources tell us? Chapter 9: Motives What were the motives behind the creation of bitcoin Ideology - what can be said about the ideology of the author based on extant sources? Why the synonym? - what could be the reason for the initial and continued secrecy surrounding the inventor? Summary - why did the inventor invent bitcoin and in this particular way? Chapter 10: The social network of early bitcoin Who were the people involved in the beginning of Bitcoin p2p forum communication Bitcoin forum communication Blockchain transactions Summary - what can we learn from looking at the bitcoin initial network Chapter 11: The usual suspects? Rather than pointing definitively to one or another suspect we will try to integrate the knowledge we have gained with the list of known suspects. An evaluation framework - developing an evaluation framework against which to measure the likelihood of any candidate being Satoshi Nakamoto Prime suspects - the suspects that have gained most attention · Hal Finney · Nick Szabo · Dorian Sakamoto · Craig Wright and David Kleiman · Paul Leroux Secondary suspects - suspects that have gained some attention · Vili Lehdonum and Michael Clear · Neal King, Vladimir Oksman, Charles Bry · Hal Finney, Nick Szabo and Adam Back · Shinichi Mochizuki · Ross Ulbricht · Adam Back · Gavin Andresen · Jed McCaleb · Elon Musk · Len Sassaman · Someone else A new primary suspect - as in the movie The Usual Suspects, careful analysis points towards a surprising suspect who is not in the primary field of suspects. Part 3 - Bitcoin in context How is bitcoin viewed in the wider context of human civilization? Bitcoin does not exist in a technological bubble addressing only technological issues. It is firmly situated in a web of themes that are and have been central to human civilization. This may account for its notoriety but needs to be put in context. Chapter 12: Money Since prehistoric times humans have engaged in exchange. This falls in a continuum from barter, through intermediaries as cowry shells, gold and silver coins to purely symbolic means of exchange. The history of money Medium of exchange Unit of account Standard of deferred payment Store of value Types of money · Commodity · Representative money · Fiat · Digital money · Deposits The politics of money Money as a bridge between domains of value Chapter 13: Ownership Proving that you own something has been a central feature of human societies for millenia and disputes have fueled more than its share of violence and conflict.

Owners · Private · Public · Corporate · Communal Property · Tangible · Intangible Establishing and policing ownership · National · Transnational Chapter 14: Social organization Human societies have always been characterized by some sort of social organization. The different options have been debated since classical antiquity. This chapter will take a look at the space of social organization and narrow it down to the particular types associated with bitcoin and blockchain. An ancient discussion: Monarchy, Oligarchy and Democracy - and anarchy Centralization vs decentralization Types of social organization in human groups Open source Cypher punks Chapter 15: Religion A rarely debated issue are the religious aspects surrounding Bitcoin and the blockchain movement. But these aspects are nothing new when it comes to human cultures. Understanding this helps explain a lot of the seem.