The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin Page #2

are released into circulation.

The system is programmed

so that only 21 million

bitcoins will ever exist.

And as time goes by,

the mining reward decreases.

The result is

a predictable supply

that's governed

by scarcity,

making bitcoins

somewhat like a digital gold.

It's the first currency

of the Internet.

And everyone

is free to use it.

With bitcoin, you can send

any amount of money

to anyone anywhere

in the world

as easily

as sending an email.

My brother Nick

is a filmmaker.

After hearing me talk about

bitcoin incessantly for months,

we decided to start

documenting things.

NICK:
Hey,

I don't think we'll need the small camera.

- It can't hurt.

- NICK:
No, I'd rather just leave it behind.

I have so much equipment.

Do you mind?

Damn, you really

cramped it up, huh?

Not that bad.

What do you mean?

- Jeez.

- Dude, they're right there.

Right in the back.

Right there.

DANIEL:
I was convinced that

bitcoin was going to be huge,

and I knew there were a lot

of others like me out there.

Zipped my keys in my pocket,

so I don't forget 'em later.

Bitcoin was created by what's

believed to be a pseudonym,

a guy named

satoshi nakamoto.

Invented in '09

by a fictitious person

named satoshi nakamoto...

DANIEL:

On Halloween 2008,

someone using the name

satoshi nakamoto.

Posted on a cryptography

mailing list...

The post contained

a link to a white paper

in which satoshi proposed a new type

of payment system for the Internet.

It described a protocol that

used peer-to-peer networking,

proof of work

and public key cryptography.

For years, computer scientists

had been experimenting

with these technologies

to create digital money.

But satoshi discovered

a way to combine them

that had never

been done before.

In doing so,

he invented bitcoin.

There are no records

of nakamoto's existence

prior to the creation

of bitcoin.

On his profile page,

he claimed to be

a 34-year-old man

living in Japan.

Although satoshi nakamoto

is a Japanese name,

he wrote in perfect English

when communicating online

and went through great lengths

to keep his identity unknown.

Nonetheless,

programmers and cryptographers

all across the world recognized the

brilliance of satoshi's design.

And began collaborating with

him to further develop bitcoin.

In October of 2009,

the first exchange rate

was published.

Listing the value

of 1,309 bitcoins at $1.

Bitcoins were cheap,

and through the following year,

they continued to trade

for fractions of a cent.

In the spring of 2010,

a Florida man named laszlo

decided to try using his

bitcoins to purchase something.

He offered 10,000 bitcoins

to anyone who would

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