-1.png)
The Bitcoin whitepaper is a nine-page document published in October 2008 by Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
With just 3,200 words and seven diagrams filling up eight-and-a-half pages, it is by far the most influential publication in crypto and is seen by many as the movement’s founding document.
Further reading: What is Bitcoin (BTC)? A beginner's guide to Bitcoin
Required reading
Most other whitepapers, which outline a crypto project’s vision and technical details, are too complex for the average person.
While the Bitcoin whitepaper gets quite technical in some sections, the document as a whole is remarkably readable–so readable, in fact, that many recommend it as a starting point for understanding blockchain.
Solving the “double spend” problem
While there are many ideas put forward in the Bitcoin whitepaper, they all revolve around solving double spending: the digital equivalent of spending counterfeit money.
Before Bitcoin, online payments absolutely had to go through a trusted financial institution. If they didn’t, then people could cheat the system and spend a single unit of money more than once. Third-party financial institutions thus policed transactions to ensure this didn’t occur.
The Bitcoin whitepaper proposed a way to get around this double spending problem by creating a digital currency (Bitcoin) so secure that it doesn’t need third-parties to police it. It would be an “electronic cash” that is purely “peer-to-peer” (hence the full title of the Bitcoin whitepaper: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System).
Further reading: Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
Things you should know
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Did you like this article? Sign up to our weekly MoonPay Minute newsletter to get similar content delivered directly to your inbox.