A post by technologist Andy Baio, on April 5, was enough to spark the theories that the legendary Apple founder Steve Jobs is the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, who created the technological miracle of Bitcoin.
Specifically, Andy Baio reported that while using his Apple-branded computer, he accidentally stumbled upon a copy of the Bitcoin “white paper” written by Satoshi Nakamoto:
“As I was trying to repair my printer today, I discovered that a PDF copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s “white bible” of Bitcoin, written by Satoshi Nakamoto, is apparently being sent with every copy of macOS since Mojave in 2018,” Baio wrote.
His post prompted Twitter users to share screenshots of the “white paper” that was stored on their Mac computers. Insider also tested Baio’s instructions and found the “white paper” in the latest version of macOS.
The Bitcoin white paper
The “white paper,” titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” was first published in 2008. In it, its author lays out the framework for the underlying mechanisms that power Bitcoin and enable transactions without an intermediary, such as a bank or financial institution.
Is that Steve Jobs?
Baio’s revelation has created the theory that the mysterious, Satoshi Nakamoto, the unidentified Bitcoin inventor, may be Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder and technology visionary.
“Was Steve Jobs Satoshi Nakamoto the creator of #bitcoin?” tweeted Lark Davis, a bitcoin investor and blogger with 1.1 million followers, adding: “Plus Satoshi disappeared in December 2010 and then Jobs passed into eternity in October 2011. The timelines fit…”.
While Nakamoto disappeared from the Internet at the same time Jobs died, the “white paper” appeared on Mac computers seven years after Jobs’ death, making it impossible to be the one who introduced the document into the operating system.
As for Jobs himself, while credited as the creative force behind many of Apple’s most iconic products, he was not an expert programmer, according to co-founder, Steve Wozniak.
Others have also noted that for Jobs to be able to develop the iPhone around the same time that the world’s most popular digital item was developed is all the more reason to be skeptical.
Was it a group of people?
Nakamoto’s true identity was never revealed, and some believe that Nakamoto was actually a team of people, given the complexity of Bitcoin’s code. The inventor and creator of Bitcoin stated that they started writing the code about 2007 and the network was launched in 2009.
The mysterious figure “disappeared” from online appearances on December 12, 2010.
Some estimate that the cryptocurrency wallets associated with the Nakamoto alias hold more than 1.1 million Bitcoin. When Bitcoin peaked in November 2021, at about $69,000, those holdings were worth about $73 billion, placing Nakamoto among the 15 richest people in the world at the time.
Maybe it was an employee.
Meanwhile, other Twitter users floated the idea that the “white paper” was placed on Mac devices by an Apple employee, a Bitcoin enthusiast.
How to track it down
To locate the “white paper”, users can open the macOS terminal and enter the following command:
open /System/Library/Image\ Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf
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