No, the NSA Did Not Invent Bitcoin
2025-07-12 18:39:26
Main Idea
There is no credible evidence that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) created Bitcoin, and comparisons between Bitcoin’s white paper and a 1996 NSA paper on electronic cash are misleading due to fundamental differences in their designs.
Key Points
1. The 1996 NSA paper is a literature survey of existing cryptographic research on digital cash, focusing on centralized systems, unlike Bitcoin’s decentralized design.
2. Bitcoin’s white paper introduced novel concepts like Proof-of-Work (PoW) and a distributed ledger, which are absent in the NSA’s paper.
3. The conspiracy theory lacks hard evidence, such as documentation or whistleblower testimony, linking the NSA to Bitcoin’s creation.
4. The NSA paper relies on outdated, centralized e-cash systems like blind signatures, which differ fundamentally from Bitcoin’s trustless architecture.
5. Bitcoin’s launch in 2008 aligned with distrust of centralized financial systems, contrasting with the NSA’s centralized approach in its 1996 paper.
Description
There is no credible evidence that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) created Bitcoin, and comparisons between Bitcoin’s white paper and a 1996 NSA paper on electronic cash are extremely misleading at best. No Smoking Gun: The NSA’s 1996 Paper Is Not Bitcoin, and It’s Not Even Close Conspiracy theories flourish in the absence of
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