Happy Bitcoin Whitepaper Day!
TL:DR - The four Whitepaper versions timeline graphic is below - details at TheBitcoinWhitepapers.com
The Bitcoin Whitepaper we know today was revised by Satoshi after its October 31st 2008 announcement. Twice. The four known copies of this historic document are compared in the png above, including an overlooked copy preserved by Nicholas Bohm. For more on the legend of Bohm and Satoshi see our exclusive: Forgotten Satoshi Nakamoto Emails Discovered with Nicholas Bohm
As the Bitcoin Whitepaper reaches its 18th anniversary, many readers will recognize the nine-page document as currently hosted at Bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
But the metadata in this file records a creation date of March 24th 2009. This is nearly five months after the infamous October 31st Whitepaper announcement, and well after the Genesis Block on January third...
There have been multiple versions of the Bitcoin Whitepaper over time. At least four of them.
The first survives only through its title and abstract. The second had eight pages, not nine. And the third, preserved by an early Bitcoin user, was only recently rediscovered in 2024...
continued on...https://satoshitimes.com/whitepapers/#august-draft
I released a book today about Bitcoin because it's Whitepaper day and that's one of the key milestones in the book. The book is Blockchain Lords: The battle for Bitcoin. The first chapter is free on https://blockchainlords.com - no signup or email required.
Would love some feedback.
Interesting bit of history
"Happy Whitepaper Day! This is wild - I always thought there was one whitepaper. 8 pages vs 9, and a lost version found in 2024? That March 2009 metadata is suspicious - 5 months after Oct 31 announcement. So Satoshi kept editing after Genesis? Checking the timeline graphic now. Great research!"