I email Wei Dai again about release of Bitcoin v0.1

2009 Jan 10 See all posts
I email Wei Dai again about release of Bitcoin v0.1 @ Satoshi Nakamoto
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Satoshi Nakamoto

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https://satoshinakamoto.network

About 5 months agao, I have sent an email about b-money to Wei Dai and he replied me later. Bitcoin got inspirations from b-money paper, so I emailed Wei Dai again about the releasee of Bitcoin v0.1.

Here is the email:


I wanted to let you know, I just released the full implementation of the paper I sent you a few months ago, Bitcoin v0.1. Details, download and screenshots are at bitcoin.org

I think it achieves nearly all the goals you set out to solve in your b-money paper.

The system is entirely decentralized, without any server or trusted parties. The network infrastructure can support a full range of escrow transactions and contracts, but for now the focus is on the basics of money and transactions.

There was a discussion of the design on the Cryptography mailing list. Hal Finney gave a good high-level overview:

One thing I might mention is that in many ways bitcoin is two independent ideas: a way of solving the kinds of problems James lists here, of creating a globally consistent but decentralized database; and then using it for a system similar to Wei Dai's b-money (which is referenced in the paper) but transaction/coin based rather than account based.

Solving the global, massively decentralized database problem is arguably the harder part, as James emphasizes. The use of proof-of-work as a tool for this purpose is a novel idea well worth further review IMO.

Satoshi