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LibraryConsensus2008Design paperCorpus record

Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System

Bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto.

Publish every spend to a peer network. Let proof-of-work order the history. The longest chain of work is the ledger honest nodes extend. The first spend of a coin in that chain is the one that counts.

A reading of the public paper. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not a claim about any later network.

Read this for the problem and the sketch. Read the backbone paper before repeating 'the math says' anything about confirmations.
Evidence
Primary paper
Re-measured
No
Assumptions
3
Records linked
2

Code

Source, repository, and what is actually hosted

  • bitcoin.orghttps://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
  • The source URL is not a GitHub repository. No code remote is invented.
  • Full text is not mirrored. Public availability is not a licence to copy the file onto this site.
  • Add to a reading list

01 Claim ledger

What the paper is allowed to say

Each row is a sentence already in the study. The status is the same on every row: a model claim, not a live measurement.

  1. Claim 01 · Paper model

    The defect

    A digital cash system that stops a coin being spent twice had needed a mint. The mint is the trusted party.

  2. Claim 02 · Paper model

    The proposal

    Publish every spend to a peer network. Let proof-of-work order the history. The longest chain of work is the ledger honest nodes extend. The first spend of a coin in that chain is the one that counts.

  3. Claim 03 · Paper model

    The coin is a chain of signatures.

    The mint is replaced by a race to extend a chain of hashed blocks.

  4. Claim 04 · Paper model

    The bound

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

02 Three cuts

Observation, model, falsifier

A desk does not stop at the summary. Each claim is cut three ways, using only this study's own assumptions and checks. Nothing here is a new figure.

  1. 01 The defect

    Observation

    What the study says

    A digital cash system that stops a coin being spent twice had needed a mint. The mint is the trusted party.

    Model

    What has to hold

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    What does the paper use as the vote: CPU power?

  2. 02 The proposal

    Observation

    What the study says

    Publish every spend to a peer network. Let proof-of-work order the history. The longest chain of work is the ledger honest nodes extend. The first spend of a coin in that chain is the one that counts.

    Model

    What has to hold

    It does not fix a block size, a fee market, or a lightning channel.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    What is the double-spend, in the paper's own picture?

  3. 03 The coin is a chain of signatures.

    Observation

    What the study says

    The mint is replaced by a race to extend a chain of hashed blocks.

    Model

    What has to hold

    It is not a promise about price.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    Which later paper turns the informal argument into a named property?

  4. 04 The bound

    Observation

    What the study says

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

    Model

    What has to hold

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

    Falsifier

    What would retire it

    Which later paper turns the informal argument into a named property?

03 Sequence

One action, as an operating tape

  1. 01Broadcast a transaction.
  2. 02Miners bundle transactions into a block that extends the chain they see as having the most work.
  3. 03A node treats a spend as settled when enough work is buried on top of it.
  4. 04What is the double-spend, in the paper's own picture?

04 Load-bearing

The argument, and where a pitch drops it

  1. What the paper is for

    The cut

    Read this for the problem and the sketch. Read the backbone paper before repeating 'the math says' anything about confirmations.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

  2. What happened after

    The cut

    Every later chain in this library is a disagreement with some sentence in this short paper: the puzzle, the privacy, the expressiveness, or the energy.

    Why it carries weight

    If this cut is skipped, the paper's name is being used without the mechanism that makes the name mean anything.

    Where it is dropped

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

05 Register

What has to be true

  • Stake and threshold · Not re-measured

    The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.

  • Model · Not re-measured

    It does not fix a block size, a fee market, or a lightning channel.

  • Model · Not re-measured

    It is not a promise about price.

06 Divergence

What happened after the paper

Every later chain in this library is a disagreement with some sentence in this short paper: the puzzle, the privacy, the expressiveness, or the energy.

A later client, parameter set, or reward formula is a different object. Cite this paper for the mechanism. Cite a primary release for the network. This desk has not re-run the proof.

07 Pre-mortem

What to check before you use the idea

  4. 0 of 3 marked on this browser. A mark is a reading note, not a pass, a rating, or a recommendation.

08 Anatomy

The paper, in the order a builder needs

The problem it names

A digital cash system that stops a coin being spent twice had needed a mint. The mint is the trusted party.

What the design proposes

  • The coin is a chain of signatures.
  • The mint is replaced by a race to extend a chain of hashed blocks.
  • Honesty is described as a majority of CPU power, informally.

How the mechanism is specified

  • Broadcast a transaction.
  • Miners bundle transactions into a block that extends the chain they see as having the most work.
  • A node treats a spend as settled when enough work is buried on top of it.

What this page does not treat as proven

  • The paper's majority argument is informal. The backbone papers are where the properties get named.
  • It does not fix a block size, a fee market, or a lightning channel.
  • It is not a promise about price.

Why the desk still reads it

Read this for the problem and the sketch. Read the backbone paper before repeating 'the math says' anything about confirmations.

09 Lexicon

Terms, opened into the record

Longest chain
The chain representing the most proof-of-work, which honest nodes extend.
Double-spend
Two transactions that spend the same coin. The chain keeps one.

10 Repository

Every linked record on this page

Underlined words open a page that already exists: a concept, a protocol profile, a failure record, or another paper. If a word is not underlined, this desk does not have a record for it.

This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.

Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.