Bitcoin v0.1
From Satoshipedia, the Satoshi Mail encyclopedia
Bitcoin v0.1 was the first release of Satoshi's software. He announced it on the Cryptography mailing list on 8 January 2009: “Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending.” It ran on Windows only for the time being and included the C++ source code (the announcement).
The release notes on bitcoin-list set out the rules that still apply, including the 21 million coin limit (release notes; see 21 million supply cap).
First users
Hal Finney ran it immediately, and Satoshi sent him the first transaction on 12 January. Within days Finney, Dustin Trammell and others were reporting bugs, and Satoshi shipped versions 0.1.2, 0.1.3 and 0.1.5 over the following weeks (v0.1.2). He also wrote to Wei Dai that the release “achieves nearly all the goals you set out to solve in your b-money paper”.
See also
Primary sources
The messages and commits this article draws on, in Satoshi Mail and where they were first published.
- Bitcoin v0.1 released, Cryptography mailing list, 8 January 2009. Original source
- [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1 Alpha release notes, bitcoin-list (SourceForge), 12 January 2009. Original source
- [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.2 now available, bitcoin-list (SourceForge), 11 January 2009. Original source
Published by Tyler Howell for Satoshi Mail. Written with AI assistance from the sources listed above and checked against them. Last updated 22 October 2026. Spotted an error? Email itstylerhowell@gmail.com (how articles are made).
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