On Thursday, previously unseen emails between Adam Back and the mysterious Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto were revealed during the ongoing trial between the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and Craig Wright. Wright, who has controversially claimed to be Nakamoto, is facing legal trouble over his attempts to obtain copyright to the BTC whitepaper and related materials.
The trial, which took place in the United Kingdom, has captivated the cryptocurrency world due to its potential impact on Bitcoin development and the wider digital currency ecosystem. Adam Back, a pivotal figure in the cryptocurrency space and someone who influenced Nakamoto, submitted the letter as part of his testimony against Wright on February 22.
COPA Trial: Bitcoin Inventor’s Invisible Email Submitted
The emails date back to August 2008, months before Bitcoin’s official launch, and revealed conversations between Back and Nakamoto about the technological foundations of what would become the first and most important digital currency.
The first email Nakamoto sent was to confirm a citation of Back’s Hashcash paper, a predecessor to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism. Nakamoto’s message alludes to the early concept of Bitcoin, noting: “I am preparing to publish a paper referencing your Hashcash paper and wanted to make sure the citations were correct… I found a new use for hash-based proofs. We do our job in a way that makes electronic cash work.”
Email #2: Adam’s response
Here, Adam suggests to Satoshi that he research a paper called “B-money” by Wei Dei.
Dei was a well-known cryptographer who worked with digital cash and was often cited as a candidate for Satoshi. pic.twitter.com/zG5PehiBpe
— Rizzo (@pete_rizzo_) February 22, 2024
A follow-up email shows a technical exchange between the two. Back suggested Nakamoto look into Wei Dai’s B-money proposal, a concept Nakamoto was previously unaware of. This acknowledgment is very important as Wright claimed to have been inspired by B-money in creating Bitcoin.
But according to the email, Nakamoto only found out about B-money through Back and became suspicious of Wright’s story. In his testimony, Director Baek emphasized the brevity and technical focus of the conversation with Nakamoto, saying, “It was not an elaborate conversation and did not cover details.”
Beck also took the opportunity to refute Wright’s claims about the origins of BTC, asserting, “I do not believe B-Money influenced Nakamoto based on his emails.” He also disputed Wright’s claim that Bitcoin relies on algorithms other than Hashcash, reinforcing the importance of his contribution to the field.
COPA has positioned the trial as a pivotal fight for the future of Bitcoin, arguing that Wright’s claims stifle innovation and threaten developers in the field. The alliance’s legal fight against Wright aims to keep BTC’s foundational documents in the public domain, ensuring the digital currency remains an open and collaborative project.
At press time, BTC was trading at $51,204.
Featured image created with DALLE, TradingView.com chart