Precursors of Bitcoin
From Satoshipedia, the Satoshi Mail encyclopedia
Bitcoin combined ideas that cryptographers had been developing for two decades. Satoshi said as much to Adam Back when he learned of b-money: “my ideas start from exactly that point.” (the email).
- Ecash (1983): David Chaum's anonymous cryptographic electronic money, using blind signatures; the money was cryptographically signed by a bank.[1]
- Hashcash (1997): Adam Back's proof-of-work scheme for spam control.[2] The white paper cites it.[3]
- b-money (1998): Wei Dai's “anonymous, distributed electronic cash system”.[4] It is reference [1] in the white paper.[3]
- Bit gold (1998): Nick Szabo's mechanism for a decentralised digital currency.[5]
- RPOW (2004): Hal Finney's reusable proof-of-work system, the first of its kind.[6]
The white paper presents its own answer as a solution to “the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network”.[3]
See also
References
- Ecash, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- Bitcoin, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, bitcoin.org.
- Wei Dai, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- Nick Szabo, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
- Hal Finney (computer scientist), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
Primary sources
The messages and commits this article draws on, in Satoshi Mail and where they were first published.
- Citation of your Hashcash paper, Private email with Adam Back, 20 August 2008. 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).
Categories: Cypherpunks · Documents