Bitcoin: Why October 31st?

$SirToshi
4 min readJul 4, 2020

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When trying to understand the fundamentals of Bitcoin many overlook the significance of its White Paper being released on 31st October 2008. Satoshi Nakamoto already had the tools & knowledge so why did he leave it until 3rd January 2009 to start the network?

The reason is to give Bitcoin credibility as a ‘digital commodity’. Whereas a security is issued & controlled by a central authority and ultimately has its value secured to that single entity, a commodity is something that is common to everyone. This is why Satoshi Nakamoto had to provide an equal opportunity for all to start the Bitcoin network. In order to provide an equal opportunity a ‘reasonable’ amount of time had to be provided. In this case Satoshi Nakamoto clearly thought that 2 months would be considered a reasonable amount of time. To ensure that a reasonable amount of time had been provided Satoshi Nakamoto left it 2 months plus an extra 4 days, then started the network on 3rd January 2009.

The fundamental value of the Bitcoin network and its credibility comes from the neutral growth of the network. This is why it was also important that the network was started under a pseudonymous identity. It’s this important point that explains why the Bitcoin White Paper was released on October 31st.

October 31st provided Satoshi Nakamoto with the best odds of no one else starting the network before he had provided a reasonable amount of time & given enough opportunity to everyone else. This is because the busiest time of the year are the 2 months leading up to the festive period.

Releasing the Bitcoin White paper on October 31st meant that Halloween provided an added distraction yet did not affect the amount of time provided. After Halloween, many people start making plans for Christmas & New Year and are focused on other things. This meant that the Bitcoin White Paper would have been far less a significant priority. Satoshi Nakamoto understood the significance of his work but also understood that because he released it, it was he who was responsible for providing a reasonable amount of time.

January 3rd 2009 was a Saturday & by starting it on a Saturday if anyone had inquired what he was up to he would have been able to give a mundane reply such as “Oh nothing, just a little project I’m working on”.

Everything about the start of the Bitcoin network was planned to neutralise its significance as much as possible in order to give it as much credibility as possible later on. This is because the fundamental value of the network comes from its neutral growth & size, which is also another reason why Satoshi Nakamoto had to disappear from the project for a long enough period of time to give the network strength in its computing power, economic power & credibility.

The only protocol capable of achieving a neutral de-centralised network is the protocol that Satoshi Nakamoto designed & described in his White Paper entitled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”. This protocol named Bitcoin Satoshi Vision is known as Bitcoinˢᵛ & has the ticker symbol (BSV).

To understand why the Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin protocol is known as Bitcoinˢᵛ & has the ticker symbol BSV read my Medium article titled: “Bitcoin: A Tail of Blockchain BTC/BCH/BSV” linked here — https://medium.com/@sirtoshitv/bitcoin-a-tail-of-blockchains-x3-eebb136457c7

Satoshi Nakamoto had a vision. That vision was Bitcoin. Bitcoin is Satoshi’s Vision. Bitcoin is BSV.

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