The story of the crypto industry almost always begins with a pseudonym: Satoshi Nakamoto. To this day, no one knows for sure who was behind the name, but the white paper and code they left behind changed how people understand “money” and “accounting.”

$BTC is the native coin of the system created by Satoshi Nakamoto. Currently 83,769.95 (24h +0.92%).

■ A White Paper

On October 31, 2008, an author using the name Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin white paper on a cryptography mailing list. It was titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The paper was only about nine pages long.

The core problem the white paper set out to solve was “double spending”: without a bank or other central authority keeping records and guaranteeing transactions, how could it ensure that the same money wasn’t spent twice?

■ The Genesis Block

On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined Bitcoin’s first block, known as the “genesis block.”

The genesis block included a headline from that day’s British newspaper The Times, saying that the Chancellor was on the verge of a second bailout for banks. This line is often interpreted as a commentary on the financial system at the time. It also served as a timestamp, proving that the block was created no earlier than that day.

■ The Design

Nakamoto brought together several existing ideas: proof of work, blocks linked together in a chain, and block rewards. Miners contributed computing power to record transactions in exchange for rewards. Anyone trying to alter history would need to command most of the network’s computing power, at enormous cost.

This allowed mutually distrustful nodes to agree on a shared ledger without requiring anyone to act as guarantor.

■ Stepping Back and Unsolved Mysteries

Around the end of 2010, Nakamoto gradually withdrew from public discussions and handed development over to other developers. They never spoke publicly again.

Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity has never been publicly confirmed. The name may belong to one person or a group of people. Claims of being “Satoshi Nakamoto” crop up online from time to time, but none are backed by evidence that is widely accepted.

■ A Few Final Words

If you want to understand Bitcoin, the best place to start is still those nine pages of the white paper. Reading the original is clearer than any secondhand explanation. Understanding the principles can help you avoid some pitfalls, but it can’t replace managing your position size.

If you learned something, leave a comment. If anything’s unclear, ask away in the comments.