Private email exchanges between pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and early project contributor Maruti Marmi reveal the story behind the creation of the flagship cryptocurrency and the early days of its creator's future. idea became clearer.
These emails were shared as part of Marmi's testimony in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) v. Craig Wright case. The trial has been ongoing since early February and will determine whether Wright's claims that he created Bitcoin have any merit.
Emails you've never seen before
One group of emails concerns early conversations between Nakamoto and Marumi, who contributed to the Bitcoin website and project code starting in 2009.
These emails provide insight into Mr. Nakamoto's early expectations regarding Bitcoin and its future growth. Based on the email, he was aware of the challenges Bitcoin could face regarding its legal status.
In one email he wrote:
“There are many things you can say on the SourceForge site that you can't say on your own site. …Even so, I find it strange to state clearly that “please think of it as an investment.” That's a dangerous statement, so you should delete that bullet point.it's okay [Bitcoin users] They came to that conclusion themselves, but we can't promote it as such. ”
Whether virtual currencies and related products are investment contracts is a key point of contention between the industry and regulators, particularly the US SEC.
After years of negative sentiment, Bitcoin has generally established itself as a commodity, with many considering it “digital gold.” This is primarily because Bitcoin exchanges began allowing users to purchase cryptoassets in 2010, but they were initially issued through mining rather than investment contracts.
By the way, this email states that one of the first Bitcoin exchanges has been established. Mr. Nakamoto was looking for ideas for applying Bitcoin, and Mr. Marumi suggested an exchange from fiat currency to Bitcoin.
Marmi continued to operate and register Bitcoinexchange.com as it was previously known. But the latest emails show that Mr. Nakamoto was a key advisor to the exchange.
Mr. Nakamoto advised Marumi to initially operate an exchange separately, rather than creating an “eBay-type” or peer-to-peer exchange. He also supported Marumi's exchange rate setting proposal and withdrew plans to introduce an auction system.
In addition, Mr. Nakamoto secured a donation of $3,600, of which $1,000 was allocated to support the exchange's initial operations.
Other topics include anonymity, mining profits, and fees
Nakamoto also created an early distinction between anonymous and pseudonymous, or partially anonymous, transactions. He anticipated controversy surrounding transactional analytics, which is now a major business for companies like Chainaracy and Elliptic.
Nakamoto wrote at the time:
“I think it's better not to emphasize the anonymous point of view too much…you can't give an impression.” [Bitcoin is] You will be automatically anonymous. It's possible to have a fake name…but if someone starts looking at transaction history and revealing information that people thought was anonymous, the backlash will be even worse if we aren't prepared to expect it. …”
Nakamoto and Marumi also discussed other topics, including mining profits, power consumption, and Bitcoin's potential environmental impact. In response to environmental concerns, Nakamoto writes:
“It would be ironic if we were forced to choose between economic freedom and environmental protection.”
He told Marmi that “unfortunately” the proof-of-work consensus method is the only way to ensure that Bitcoin can “work” without a trusted third party. He added that this is “fundamental” to prevent double spending.
Nakamoto didn't seem fazed by the idea of so much energy being poured into the Bitcoin network. He writes that even if it “grows to the point where it consumes significant amounts of energy,” it will not be as “wasteful” as the resources spent on “traditional banking activities.”
He further stated:
“That cost will be an order of magnitude lower than the billions of dollars in bank fees paid for all the brick-and-mortar buildings, high-rise buildings, and unsolicited credit card offers.”
Mr. Nakamoto was also acutely aware of the impact that electricity prices had on a mine's profitability. His analysis at the time did not take into account how quickly the mining industry would evolve after the advent of ASIC devices. But the emails show he had in mind the pace of technology development over the next few years.
“The value of a Bitcoin will be proportional to the power consumed to generate it…Running computational tasks 24/7 without sitting idle consumes significantly more power… The extra watts consumed will go directly to your electricity bill, and the Bitcoins you produce will be worth less.”
Another topic the two developers discussed included the possibility of using Bitcoin's timestamp data. Nakamoto's own Genesis block trade then famously included financial headlines.
The emails also revealed discussions surrounding Nakamoto's original decision.Hide transaction fee settings” because we felt that being able to customize prices would confuse users. He predicted that adjustment fees won't be needed until “the distant future, if at all.”
Nakamoto's prediction was partially correct. Before 2017, the average Bitcoin transaction cost was just a few cents, but costs have increased significantly over the years, and in recent years, transactions typically cost a few dollars.
Emails could disprove Craig Wright's claims
Crucially, Marumi's email contradicts some of the claims Wright has made over the years trying to prove that he is Nakamoto.
Wright said Marumi first approached Nakamoto in February 2009. However, email records show that Marumi approached Nakamoto several months later, in May 2009.
Another inconsistency that Marumi pointed out was that Wright misspelled Marmi's first name in court, which would be uncharacteristic of Nakamoto, who knew him well.
Yet another discrepancy stems from the fact that Wright misidentified Marmi's nationality, even though the email contained a Finnish email address ending in .fi. Additionally, in one case, Marmi's full address was listed, including the country.
Wright also claimed in a previous lawsuit that Marmi created the darknet market Silk Road. This is believed to have led Wright (as Nakamoto) to publicly move away from Bitcoin in 2010.
Mr Marmi said in his witness statement that these allegations were “absurd and false”. He noted that Ross Ulbricht was convicted several years ago of creating and operating an illegal dark web operation.
CryptoSlate previously covered email submissions between Nakamoto and Adam Back, filed as part of COPA's broader effort to disprove Wright's claims in court.
