2008
Satoshi Nakamoto begins design and coding work on Bitcoin.
November 17th: James A. Donald and Satoshi Nakamoto discuss pending transaction pools on the Cryptography Mailing List.
December 10th: The Bitcoin Mailing List is created with a welcome message.
December 17th: Satoshi Nakamoto posts about the Bitcoin P2P e-cash paper on the Cryptography Mailing List.
2009
January 3rd: The Bitcoin Genesis Block is mined at 18:15:05 UTC, containing the message "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." Satoshi Nakamoto announces the Genesis Block on the Bitcoin Mailing List.
January 8th: Satoshi Nakamoto announces the first release of Bitcoin (v0.1) on the Cryptography Mailing List, initially available for Windows only. The announcement includes details about the decentralized nature of Bitcoin, how to run a node, generate coins, and send/receive transactions.
January 10th - 12th: Satoshi Nakamoto exchanges emails with Hal Finney, troubleshooting issues with the early Bitcoin software and discussing features like timestamping.
January 12th: Satoshi Nakamoto announces Bitcoin v0.1 Alpha release notes on the Bitcoin Mailing List. The announcement includes details about running a node, generating coins, and the future implementation of transaction fees.
January 24th: Satoshi Nakamoto exchanges emails with Hal Finney, addressing a bug related to full disk space and code duplication.
February 4th: Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin v0.1.5 on the Bitcoin Mailing List, highlighting improvements based on feedback from Nicholas and Dustin.
February 18th: Satoshi Nakamoto describes Bitcoin on the P2P Foundation forum, emphasizing its decentralized nature and rules governing coin issuance and difficulty adjustment.
March 4th: Satoshi Nakamoto discusses running multiple nodes, future website integration, and Bitcoin's potential as a timestamp server with Hal Finney on the Bitcoin Mailing List.
April 27th: Satoshi Nakamoto responds to Mike Hearn on the Bitcoin Mailing List, clarifying that Bitcoin's decentralized structure makes it distinct from traditional financial institutions, implying different legal implications.
October 23rd: Satoshi Nakamoto addresses concerns about Bitcoin crashes on Windows, clarifies the purpose of the "debug.log" file, and mentions working on a new version with Martti.
November 27th: Satoshi Nakamoto confirms that a Linux version of Bitcoin is in development and will be included in the upcoming v0.2 release. Satoshi Nakamoto discusses the development status of Bitcoin v0.2 on the BitcoinTalk forum, highlighting upcoming features such as multi-processor support, proxy support, and a new options dialog layout.
December 11th: Satoshi Nakamoto explains the mechanics of Bitcoin addresses and transactions, emphasizing the importance of storing addresses to prove ownership.
December 16th: Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin v0.2 on the BitcoinTalk forum. The announcement details new features including multi-processor support, proxy support, minimize to tray option, autostart option, a Linux version, and thanks contributors Martti Malmi and New Liberty Standard.
December 17th: Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin v0.2 on the Bitcoin Mailing List, echoing the BitcoinTalk announcement.
2010
February 5th: Satoshi Nakamoto explains the divisibility of Bitcoin, noting the internal use of eight decimal places and the possibility of displaying more decimals in the future.
February 16th: Satoshi Nakamoto advises on setting up multiple Bitcoin machines behind a NAT, suggesting the use of the "-connect" parameter for bandwidth optimization and redundancy.
February 17th: Satoshi Nakamoto discusses Bitcoin client and website translation, explaining the use of language codes, file formats, and providing a walkthrough using Poedit.
February 23rd: Satoshi Nakamoto explains that Bitcoin utilizes mouse movements and disk operation timings to generate entropy. Satoshi Nakamoto discusses command-line functionality and JSON-RPC implementation in Bitcoin.
February 26th: Satoshi Nakamoto participates in a discussion about a new icon/logo for Bitcoin.
May 16th: Satoshi Nakamoto explains why generated Bitcoin addresses are kept permanently and cannot be deleted, highlighting the risk of losing funds. Satoshi Nakamoto suggests improvements to address reuse for sending to the same IP, including caching keys and adding an expiration parameter to "getnewaddress."
June 22nd: Satoshi Nakamoto announces the near completion of Bitcoin v0.3, inviting testing from the community. Satoshi Nakamoto shares a Windows RC1 build of Bitcoin v0.3 for testing and troubleshooting an error reported by davidonpda. Satoshi Nakamoto confirms that Laszlo's optimizations will be included in v0.3, resulting in a 20% increase in hashing speed. Satoshi Nakamoto shares a Linux RC1 build of Bitcoin v0.3 for testing and provides instructions for compiling.
July 2nd: Satoshi Nakamoto confirms Visual C++ compatibility for compiling Bitcoin, but notes that generating is significantly slower. Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin v0.3, pointing users to the official website for download.
July 6th: Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin v0.3 on the Bitcoin Mailing List, highlighting new features including command-line control, JSON-RPC, faster hashing, a Mac OS X version, and translations.
July 9th: Satoshi Nakamoto addresses a bug affecting Bitcoin 0.3 on Windows where usernames contain non-Latin characters, indicating a potential fix in the SVN. Satoshi Nakamoto discusses security concerns and potential attack vectors, highlighting the robustness of the Bitcoin system.
July 10th: Satoshi Nakamoto considers improvements to the "-connect" functionality, discussing its use cases, limitations, and interaction with IRC.
July 14th: Satoshi Nakamoto acknowledges the recent difficulty increase and reassures a user experiencing reduced coin generation. Satoshi Nakamoto confirms that Bitcoin 0.3 requires wxWidgets 2.9 for compilation.
July 15th: Satoshi Nakamoto confirms a fix for runaway CPU usage on 64-bit Bitcoin clients for Linux, mentioning an undocumented switch "-minimizetotray" to re-enable the option. Satoshi Nakamoto announces the upcoming release of Bitcoin 0.3.1 with a fix for a runtime error, asking for user testing.
July 16th: Satoshi Nakamoto investigates an assertion failure error on Ubuntu Lucid, requesting information about block count and offering potential solutions. Satoshi Nakamoto suggests trying the Bitcoin 0.3.1 release candidate to address libcrypto linkage issues. Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin 0.3.1 on SourceForge, highlighting bug fixes for Windows and Linux.
July 17th: Satoshi Nakamoto confirms that the change to reduce outgoing connections from 15 to 8 on non-port forwarded clients will be fully implemented in the upcoming 0.3.2 release.
July 25th: Satoshi Nakamoto encourages users to perform traffic load tests on the Bitcoin test network. Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin 0.3.3, emphasizing important security improvements and new features like HTTP authentication for JSON-RPC and faster initial block download.
July 27th: Satoshi Nakamoto incorporates the cached SHA256 state optimization suggested by tcatm into the SVN (rev 113), resulting in a 70% speed increase.
July 29th: Satoshi Nakamoto acknowledges the need to improve compatibility with older Ubuntu versions and plans to address it in the future. Satoshi Nakamoto investigates build errors reported on Debian testing 32-bit related to undeclared scopes, suspecting compilation issues without a clean build.
July 30th: Satoshi Nakamoto provides detailed instructions and clarifies dependencies for compiling Bitcoin on Ubuntu 9.04.
August 11th: Satoshi Nakamoto updates the SVN, addressing a recurring issue related to #ifdef WXMAC_OSX and expressing hope for a smoother development process in the future. Satoshi Nakamoto outlines a theoretical design for a more private Bitcoin system where clients store the entire transaction history, discussing its potential benefits, limitations, and trade-offs.
August 12th: Satoshi Nakamoto discusses BSD detection in the Bitcoin codebase, addressing concerns about compatibility and proposing changes to improve platform independence. Satoshi Nakamoto clarifies the design principles of the proposed private Bitcoin system, emphasizing the distinction between client-side and network-side data storage and the importance of maintaining consensus.
August 13th: Satoshi Nakamoto participates in a discussion about proposed changes to the "sendtoaddress" API call, advocating for maintaining backward compatibility and suggesting a simple return value of "".
August 14th: Satoshi Nakamoto investigates issues with compiling the 4-way parallel hashing code for SSE2 CPUs on MinGW, identifying potential compiler-related problems. Satoshi Nakamoto reports progress on testing the 4-way parallel hashing code, noting a 50% performance decrease on a Core 2 system compared to the stock implementation.
August 15th: Satoshi Nakamoto issues a warning on the Bitcoin Mailing List, advising users not to trust any transactions after block 74638 due to a potential problem under investigation. Satoshi Nakamoto shares preliminary code changes on the BitcoinTalk forum aimed at addressing an overflow bug, seeking feedback from the community.
August 16th: Satoshi Nakamoto investigates the "-march=amdfam10" compiler flag for AMD processors, confirming its effectiveness but seeking clarification and speed comparisons. Satoshi Nakamoto confirms the inclusion of tcatm's 4-way SSE2 optimization for Linux in Bitcoin 0.3.10, addressing compatibility
issues and highlighting the improved hashing speed.
August 18th: Satoshi Nakamoto shares updated code for the LoadBlockIndex function, aiming to improve the verification process for blocks in the main chain.
August 26th: Satoshi Nakamoto discusses the implications of removing the DB_PRIVATE flag from the Berkeley DB implementation, seeking details about potential performance impacts, file locking behavior, and security considerations.
August 27th: Satoshi Nakamoto comments on a new web service providing dumps of specific Bitcoin blocks, noting its potential for visualizing block production rates. Satoshi Nakamoto clarifies the distinction between Bitcoins and traditional stocks, highlighting the lack of dividends and drawing comparisons to collectibles or commodities.
September 5th: Satoshi Nakamoto suggests a workaround for a CryptoPP assertion error, recommending commenting out a specific line of code and monitoring for potential memory leaks. Satoshi Nakamoto addresses a user's confusion regarding an error message related to incorrect system time, suggesting improved wording for clarity.
September 6th: Satoshi Nakamoto acknowledges a request for an auto-backup feature for the "wallet.dat" file, planning to address it in a future version.
September 12th: Satoshi Nakamoto discusses the removal of the DB_PRIVATE flag and its impact on Berkeley DB behavior, noting the creation of temporary files and conducting performance tests during an initial block download.
September 30th: Satoshi Nakamoto shares a Windows RC1 build of Bitcoin 0.3.13 for testing, highlighting changes related to transaction confirmations, Berkeley DB flags, fractional change handling, SSE2 auto-detection, and contributions from Gavin Andresen.
October 1st: Satoshi Nakamoto acknowledges a request for a feature and plans to consider it for a future version, deeming it too late for inclusion in the upcoming 0.3.13 release. Satoshi Nakamoto announces the release of Bitcoin v0.3.13, urging users to upgrade and detailing changes related to transaction confirmations, IP address handling, Berkeley DB flags, fractional change calculations, SSE2 auto-detection, and contributions from Gavin Andresen.
October 3rd: Satoshi Nakamoto requests users to test a special build of Bitcoin 0.3.13.1 designed to address the "dust spam" transaction issue, providing download links for Windows and Linux versions. Satoshi Nakamoto clarifies that the Linux 64-bit version of the special build includes a fix for the AMD CPUID detection issue related to 4-way 128-bit SSE2 support. Satoshi Nakamoto shares code changes illustrating the improved CPUID detection for AMD processors in 64-bit mode, addressing a previous compatibility issue.
October 6th: Satoshi Nakamoto provides a Windows build of Bitcoin 0.3.13.2 addressing issues with 0/unconfirmed transactions, explaining the refined logic for spending unconfirmed change and highlighting its improvement over the previous version.
October 23rd: Satoshi Nakamoto suggests using knightmb's "blk*.dat" files to troubleshoot an issue where a user's Bitcoin client gets stuck during block chain redownload, suspecting potential interference from antivirus software, routers, or firewalls.
November 28th: Satoshi Nakamoto strongly advises against using the same "wallet.dat" file on multiple computers simultaneously, explaining the risks of data corruption and recommending alternative approaches for consolidating generated coins.
November 29th: Satoshi Nakamoto engages in a discussion about optimizing Bitcoin's performance, addressing concerns about database handling, block index writing, transaction index building, and suggesting potential improvements through read caching and configuration settings.
December 1st: Satoshi Nakamoto proposes further database optimizations by adjusting Berkeley DB settings, specifically targeting lock management and enabling asynchronous writes for improved performance.
December 10th: Satoshi Nakamoto discusses the scalability and design considerations of integrating BitDNS with Bitcoin, arguing for separate systems to avoid burdening users with unnecessary data and highlighting potential governance challenges.
December 11th: Satoshi Nakamoto further elaborates on the concept of separate blockchains for different applications, envisioning an ecosystem where chain-specific coins are traded against Bitcoins on exchanges. Satoshi Nakamoto responds to criticism of the Bitcoin codebase, defending its use of STL and minimal reliance on buffers, suggesting a misunderstanding of the code's structure.
December 19th: Satoshi Nakamoto shares code changes implementing a "client-only" mode for Bitcoin, allowing users to interact with the network without downloading the full block chain, highlighting its benefits for faster onboarding and scalability in the future.
Users
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Satoshi Nakamoto: The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin. A prolific contributor to both the Bitcoin Mailing List and the BitcoinTalk forum, Satoshi was deeply involved in the early development and debugging of the Bitcoin software. Satoshi's emails and forum posts reveal a deep understanding of cryptography, distributed systems, and software engineering.
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Hal Finney: A renowned cryptographer and early Bitcoin enthusiast. Hal was one of the first people to correspond with Satoshi Nakamoto and received the first ever Bitcoin transaction. His emails demonstrate a keen interest in Bitcoin's technical details and potential applications.
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James A. Donald: An active participant in early Bitcoin discussions on the Cryptography Mailing List. James engaged in technical conversations with Satoshi about the intricacies of the Bitcoin protocol.
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Martti Malmi (sirius-m): An early Bitcoin developer who made significant contributions to the software, particularly the v0.2 release. Martti worked on user-friendly features, such as minimize to tray and autostart options, as well as the Linux port of Bitcoin.
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New Liberty Standard: An early Bitcoin user who assisted with testing the Linux version of the software.
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Nicholas & Dustin: Early Bitcoin users who provided valuable feedback and bug reports that contributed to the development of v0.1.5.
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Laszlo Hanyecz: An early Bitcoin developer who contributed code optimizations that significantly increased hashing speed. Laszlo also developed the Mac OS X version of Bitcoin.
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DataWraith, Xunie, & Joozero: Early Bitcoin users who contributed German, Dutch, and Italian translations for the software.
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Gavin Andresen: A software developer who became involved in Bitcoin development and made significant contributions, particularly in the areas of security and JSON-RPC functionality.
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theymos: An active member of the BitcoinTalk forum who provided technical assistance, including patches for specific software issues.
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davidonpda: An early Bitcoin user who encountered an error with v0.3 and worked with Satoshi to troubleshoot the problem.
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tcatm: A contributor who suggested and developed a cached SHA256 state optimization that led to a significant performance improvement.
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jgarzik: A Bitcoin developer who created a CPU miner that supported tcatm's 4-way SSE2 optimization.
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knightmb: A BitcoinTalk forum member who provided helpful resources, including a torrent for downloading Bitcoin block data.