The 260 emails, totaling 140,000 words, between Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, and Martti Malmi, an early developer, have recently been published. While some of the material is not new, it provides valuable historical information about Bitcoin’s early days. The email exchanges, which took place from May 2009 to February 2011, offer a more casual and natural perspective on Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder.
In the emails, Nakamoto shows both prescience and naivety. As early as 2009, he anticipated that Bitcoin could face ecological or environmental issues due to its energy-intensive validation mechanism. However, he seemed to overlook Bitcoin’s scaling challenges.
The reason for the release of the correspondence now is that Malmi did not feel comfortable sharing it earlier. However, he decided to do so because of an important trial in the UK in 2024, in which he was a witness. The trial involved a group of cryptocurrency exchanges and developers suing Craig Wright, who claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
Industry experts have examined the emails and their significance. Jeremy Clark, co-author of a 2017 paper on Bitcoin’s precursors, found the tone of the emails to be more conversational and informal compared to Nakamoto’s public postings. However, caution is required as some quotes are new while others have been seen before.
The language used by Nakamoto in the emails drew attention. It was noted that he occasionally used slang and informal terms, which contrasted with his hesitancy to swear. This suggests that he may not be older and grew up in a religious or southern US background.
The emails also provide hints about Nakamoto’s background and interests. For example, he mentioned being an active user of the internet in the 1990s and used a programming keyword that is rarely used. This suggests he may have worked in the telecom industry.
Speculation about Nakamoto’s reasons for leaving the Bitcoin project has been ongoing. It is suggested that he may have had a demanding day job, which led to burnout and eventually him ghosting the project. The emails also reveal that Malmi played a role in finding Nakamoto’s replacement, Gavin Andresen.
The emails also address the differences between Nakamoto’s Bitcoin and David Chaum’s DigiCash. Nakamoto explained that Chaum’s centralized approach had a single point of failure, while Bitcoin’s decentralized nature was more resilient.
The issue of Bitcoin’s energy consumption is also discussed in the emails. Nakamoto acknowledged the potential tradeoff between security and energy conservation, but believed that Bitcoin would still be less wasteful than conventional banking.
Overall, the emails do not provide enough information to identify Nakamoto’s true identity. However, they offer valuable insights into Bitcoin’s history and the mindset of its creator. The focus should be on the system itself, which inspires confidence and transcends any individual.