The entire email correspondence between Hashcash inventor Adam Back and bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto is now public after being entered into official UK court records this week.
The five emails below detail the full conversation between Nakamoto and Back, who was quoted in the fundamental bitcoin white paper. In the emails, the two crypto heavyweights can be seen discussing work for the first time.
Although Back has previously spoken publicly about the emails, hinting at details of the conversation and, in particular, how he forgot to read the whitepaper at the beginning, the emails represent the first time the full text has been available.
It has long been speculated that Adam Back, a well-known figure in the cryptocurrency world and CEO of Blockstream, was involved in the creation of bitcoin, although these emails will likely weaken such suspicions.
As detailed, the correspondence between the two was polite and professional, with Back pointing Satoshi to some related articles, and Satoshi seeking to make clear the unique contributions he added to Back's previous work.
Invented in the 1990s by Back, Hashcash was a method of slowing down email spam, which made a computer's processor prove that it had performed calculations before delivering the message. The system is the model for the bitcoin mining system, in which a distributed network of computers compete to solve cryptographic puzzles and, in exchange for work, release new bitcoins into the economy.
Elsewhere, it is now clear that Satoshi attempted to keep in touch with Back, sending him an email in January 2009 about the launch of the bitcoin software.
Since their publication this week, the publication of these emails has reignited interest around the true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, as it coincides with other new emails presented by Satoshi's early collaborators.
However, while they are an interesting relic of history, these emails do little to shed light on the essential mysteries of bitcoin.
EMAIL #1: Satoshi reaches out to Adam
EMAIL #2: Adam points Satoshi to Wei Dei's work
EMAIL #3: Satoshi highlights his unique contributions to bitcoin
EMAIL #4: Adam hasn't read the whitepaper yet
EMAIL #5: Satoshi informs Adam about bitcoin launch
