Origins of Bitcoin

Bitcoin dog 3.jpg

That's our dog. Her name is Bitcoin. Not that she can shed any light on where Bitcoin came from, she's just cute. Especially with the Bitcoin dog tag.

Seriously though, several bloggers here on Steemit have presented well thought out posts about the origins of bitcoin, @newsandviews , @anonnews and @dollarvigilante to name a few. The big discussion seems to be whether or not the USA government (under some alphabet agency) created bitcoin.

The story goes, more or less, like this:

Sometime in the late nineties the NSA (National Security Agency of the USA) apparently authored a paper describing
a cryptographically secured electronic cash. I haven't independently verified this, I admit that I'm taking some
people's word on it.
Bitcoin was released to the world in 2009, and after mining a significant portion for him/herself, this unknown person
going by the name Satoshi Nakamoto disappeared. To this day, we do not know who is responsible for this wonderful
invention. These are well known facts.
Mistakes apparently have never been discovered in the code of bitcoin. Again, I'm taking some people's word on this,
and I am told that this is unusual. If true, would indicate extensive testing before launch.

So here's what I think happened, based on the above.

The government did develop the protocol known as bitcoin. What they intended on doing with it, I know not. I think somebody close to the project "leaked it" out to the world anonomously, the facts support this scenario. Why else would the person responsible for bitcoin remain anonomous? If they came clean, at best they would have to live a Snowden like existence in exile, at worst they would meet an untimely demise under dubious circumstances. It could also be that the NSA or some other agency knows who leaked it, and they have already been "taken care of". That might explain why Satoshi's original stash of Btc has allegedly remained untouched (if someone could verify, would appreciate). So they leaked it and disappeared for good, fearing for their life.

Thanks for reading, if any of my statements require correction please do so in the comments, along with your own thoughts on the origins of Bitcoin.

So long, Steem on, and steam on, in the sauna nearest you!

Edit: Photo is from my own personal collection