The bulk of this book is based on over three hundred interviews I conducted with the people involved, in places as far flung as Buenos Aires; Beijing; Shanghai; Tokyo; Austin; San Francisco; Palo Alto; Reykjavik; Toronto; Washington, DC; Amsterdam; and New York. I was often able to confirm the recollections with private e-mails and other contemporaneous documents that were shared with me. In the end only a handful of the people mentioned in this book declined to talk to me.
Unless I have specified otherwise in the notes below, readers can assume that every moment described in this book came to me directly from at least one or, when possible, more than one person present at the event described. Most of the direct quotes come from contemporaneous documents or recordings but some of the quotes are the best recollection of the participants, generally backed up by at least one other person in attendance. I was lucky enough to be present for some of the events, such as the March 2014 gathering at Dan Morehead’s house on Lake Tahoe.
Most of the material that did not come from interviews and personal e-mails sat in the digital treasure trove of public messages and chats that the Bitcoin community has created over time, and that various participants had the wisdom to maintain for posterity. They will be referenced in the notes by following abbreviations:
CYPH: Cypherpunk mailing list, http://cypherpunks.venona.com/.
CRYP: The Cryptography and Cryptography Policy Mailing List, http://www.mail-archive.com/cryptography@metzdowd.com/.
DEV-LIST: Core Bitcoin development discussion, http://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/bitcoin-development/.
BTCF: Bitcoin Forum, https://bitcointalk.org.
IRC: #bitcoin-dev Internet Relay Chat channel, http://bitcoinstats.com/irc/bitcoin-dev/logs/2014/01.
On Silk Road, there are two remarkable online efforts to gather and catalog all available information, including legal documents and postings from the now defunct marketplace. One is available at http://antilop.cc/sr/. The other is at http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road. Many of the details in the book came from the Silk Road’s forums and Ross Ulbricht’s trial, which will be referred to in the notes by the following abbreviations:
SRF: Silk Road forum archives, http://antilop.cc/sr/download/stexo_sr_forum.zip.
RUTT: Ross Ulbricht trial transcripts, United States of America v. Ross William Ulbricht. United States District Court Southern District of New York. 14 CR 68 (KBF).
RUTE: Ross Ulbricht trial exhibits, United States of America v. Ross William Ulbricht. United States District Court Southern District of New York. 14 CR 68 (KBF).
The notes below will not contain citations for material from the sources above when it is obvious in the text where the material came from.
All Bitcoin prices are taken from CoinDesk’s Bitcoin Price Index, which is available at http://www.coindesk.com/price/, unless I have stated otherwise. The numbers on Bitcoin trading volumes come from www.bitcoinmarkets. com and www.bitcoinity.com/data.
For those looking to learn more about the topics covered in this book there are several wonderful books. On the history of the Cypherpunks, there is Andy Greenberg’s This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World’s Information. For the history of cryptography I learned a great deal from Simon Singh’s The Code Book. For those eager to learn more about the evolution of money, Felix Martin’s Money: An Authorized Biography and Jack Weatherford’s The History of Money are wonderful reads, and Nigel Dodd’s The Social Life is thought-provoking. Those looking to go into greater depth can try A History of Money by Glyn Davies. I also benefited from Eileen Ormsby’s book Silk Road, the first of what I’m sure will be many fascinating volumes about the online bazaar.
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use your e-book reader’s search tool.
xiv only 15 percent of the basic Bitcoin computer code: Based on calculations done for the author by Gavin Andresen.
4 this particular e-mail came from: Satoshi Nakamoto to CRYP, October 31, 2008.
4 the nine-page description: A later version of the paper would be nine pages, but the initial version Hal reviewed was actually eight pages.
5 tied to an Internet provider in California: Hal’s debug log showed that the IP addresse of the other user was reached through a Tor service that would have obscured the real IP address. But Tor generally routes users to nodes in the same geographic area, suggesting that the other user on Bitcoin’s first day was probably in California.
5 He said he’d been testing it heavily: I have elected to use the pronoun “he” to refer to Satoshi, but Satoshi could also be she or they.
6 now recorded next to one of his Bitcoin addresses: The address in question was 1AiBYt8XbsdyPAELFpcSwRpu45eb2bArMf.
12 Chaum’s effort would rub Hal and others the wrong way: Hal Finney to CYPH, August 22, 1993.
12 DigiCash went down with it: Tim Clark, “DigiCash Files Chapter 11,” CNET, November 4, 1998, http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-217527 .html.
13 Hal would calculate the maximum bill: This anecdote was recounted by Hal’s college roommate and later colleague, Yin Shih.
13 “The work we are doing here, broadly speaking”: Hal Finney to CYPH, November 15, 1992.
16 As sociologist Nigel Dodd put it: Nigel Dodd, The Social Life of Money (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014).
17 “We could envisage proposals in the near future”: Alan Greenspan, Conference on Electric Money and Banking, United States Treasury, September 19, 1996, http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/19960919.htm.
17 a British researcher named Adam Back released his plan: Adam Back to CYPH, March 28, 1997.
18 a concept called bit gold, was invented by Nick Szabo: Nick Szabo, “Bit Gold,” Unenumerated, December 2005, http://unenumerated.blogspot .co.uk/2005/12/bit-gold.html.
19 Another, known as b-money, came from an American named Wei Dai: Wei Dai to CYPH, 1998.
19 Hal created his own variant, with a decidedly less sexy name: Hal Finney to CYPH, August 15, 2004.
20 The nine-page PDF attached to the e-mail: the current version is available at https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf.
22 modeled after the contest that Adam Back: While this process was modeled on Back’s program, it also relied on the innovations of several other cryptographers and mathematicians, including Ralph Merkle, Stuart Haber, and W. Scott Stornetta.
25 usually belonging to Satoshi: Satoshi’s mining activities were traced by the Argentinian researcher Sergio Demian Lerner. Sergio Demian Lerner, “The Well Deserved Fortune of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Creator, Visionary and Genius,” Bitslog, April 17, 2013, https://bitslog.wordpress .com/2013/04/17/the-well-deserved-fortune-of-satoshi-nakamoto/.
25 the first transaction took place when Satoshi sent Hal ten coins: Satoshi’s address for this transaction was 12cbQLTFMXRnSzktF kuoG3eHoMeFtpTu3S; Hal’s was 1Q2TWHE3GMdB6BZKafqwxX tWAWgFt5Jvm3.
26 Satoshi was using his own computers to help power the network: Lerner.
26 When a programmer in Texas wrote to Satoshi late one night: The programmer, Dustin Trammel, posted the e-mails on his blog at http://blog.dustintrammell.com/2013/11/26/i-am-not-satoshi/.
29 Before reaching out to Satoshi, Martti had written about Bitcoin on anti-state.org: Martti’s post, written under the screen name Trickster, is available at https://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/17233-p2p-currency-could-make-the-government-extinct/.
30 “The root problem with conventional currency”: Satoshi Nakamoto, “Bitcoin Open Source Implementation of P2P Currency,” P2P Foundation forum, February 11, 2009, http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/bitcoin-open-source.
33 It also meant that Satoshi’s computers were still: Sergio Demian Lerner, “The Well Deserved Fortune of Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin Creator, Visionary and Genius,” Bitslog, April 17, 2013, https://bitslog.wordpress .com/2013/04/17/the-well-deserved-fortune-of-satoshi-nakamoto/.
35 “Be safe from the unstability caused by fractional reserve”: An archived version of the page designed by Martti is available at http://web.archive .org/web/20090511173000/http://bitcoin.sourceforge.net/.
35 A few dozen people downloaded the Bitcoin program: Data on software downloads available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/stats/timeline.
37 Starting in August, the log of changes to the software: The history of changes to the software is available at https://gitorious.org/bitcoin/bitcoind/activities.
37 When the next version of Bitcoin, 0.2: Satoshi Nakamoto to DEV-LIST, December 17, 2009.
37 the majority of coins were still: Lerner.
37 throughout 2009 no one else was sending or receiving: Data on the number of transactions per block available at https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions-per-block.
38 In the very first recorded transaction of Bitcoin for United States dollars: Information on the transaction is available at https://blockchain .info/tx/7dff938918f07619abd38e4510890396b1cef4fbeca154fb7aaf ba8843295ea2.
38 NewLibertyStandard came up with his own method: The shuttered exchange is still online at http://newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com/page/Exchange+Rate.
39 Swap Variety Shop on his exchange website: The shuttered shop is still online at http://newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com/page/Specialty+Shop.
44 But on May 22, 2010, a guy in California offered to call Lazlo’s local Papa John’s: Information about the Bitcoin transaction is available at https://blockchain.info/tx/a1075db55d416d3ca199f55b6084e2115b9345e16c5cf302fc80e9d5fbf5d48d.
44 small item on the website of InfoWorld: Neil McAllister, “Open Source Innovation on the Cutting Edge,” Info World, May 24, 2010, http://www.infoworld.com/article/2627013/open-source-software/open-source-innovation-on-the-cutting-edge.html.
47 “Slashdot with its millions of tech-savvy readers”: Martti Malmi to BTCF, June 22, 2010.
48 “How’s this for a disruptive technology?”: “Bitcoin Releases Version 0.3,” Slashdot, July 11, 2010, http://news-beta.slashdot.org/story/10/07/11/1747245/bitcoin-releases-version-03.
49 The number of downloads would jump from around three thousand: Data on software downloads available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/stats/timeline.
49 “Over the last two days of Bitcoin being”: Gavin Andresen to BTCF, July 14, 2010.
53 the difficulty of mining new Bitcoins jumped 300 percent: Data on mining difficulty available at https://blockchain.info/charts/difficulty? timespan=all&showDataPoints=false&daysAverageString=1&show_ header=true&scale=0&address=.
54 In one month, the forum had gained more new members: Data on forum usage available at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=stats.
57 “Nobody can stop the Bitcoin system”: Keir Thomas, “Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?” PC World, December 10, 2010, http://www.pcworld.com/article/213230/could_ wikileaks_scandal_lead_to_new_virtual_currency.html.
65 “To tell the truth, I always felt”: Mark’s blog has been taken down, but an archived version of this post is available at http://web.archive .org/web/20140302234940/http://blog.magicaltux.net/2006/02/12/pensees-nocturnes/.
69 begun in earnest in July 2010 when he had sold a cheap house in Pennsylvania: RUTE GX 250 and GX 251.
69 Ross rented a cabin about an hour from his home in Austin, Texas: RUTE GX 240A.
70 he knew he wanted to set up a new kind of online market: RUTE GX 240A.
70 His curiosity about and penchant for the outdoors: Ross spoke about his youth in a recording done for the StoryCorps project with his friend Rene Pinnel in 2012.
70 At Penn State, he had the unique distinction: Erin Rowley, “Caribbean Students Host Cultural Event,” Daily Collegian, March 24, 2008, http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archives/article_ef9c02f3-a9c2-5b8f-b1d3-f0ef82e3dce0.html. Katharine Lackey, “Paul to Visit PSU,” Daily Collegian, March 26, 2008, http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archives/article_239513a3-a577-5732-bab0-9cc27c5d4610.html.
70 “Everywhere I looked I saw the State”: Dread Pirate Roberts to SRF, March 20, 2012.
70 Initially, he called the project Underground Brokers: RUTE GX 240A.
71 he soon had big black trash bags full of them: Richard Bates, RUTT, January 22, 2015.
72 “either don’t want the spouse to see it on the bill”: Satoshi Nakamoto to BTCF, September 23, 2010.
73 “I felt ashamed of where my life was”: RUTE GX 240A.
73 he had, by his own accounting, gone through $20,000: RUTE GX 250.
73 By the end of February, twenty-eight transactions: silkroad to BTCF, March 1, 2011.
75 “i’m so stressed! i gotta”: Richard Bates, RUTT, January 22, 2015.
75 “Free Talk Live, who was broadcasting live at the time”: FreeTalk Live, March 16, 2011, https://www.freetalklive.com/content/podcast_ 2011_03_16.
76 “my site had a 40 minute spot on a national”: RUTE GX 1002.
77 he was sentenced to ten months in prison: Information on the case is available at http://www.justice.gov/criminal/cybercrime/press-releases/2002/verPlea.htm.
80 “Law-abiding citizens can carry on their affairs”: Jerry Brito, “Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks,” Techland blog, Time, April 16, 2011.
80 “cuts across international boundaries, can be stored”: Andy Greenberg, “Crypto Currency,” Forbes, April 20, 2011, http://www.forbes .com/forbes/2011/0509/technology-psilocybin-bitcoins-gavin-andresen-crypto-currency.html.
82 “This was—of course—denied”: Mark Karpeles to BTCF, May 1, 2011.
83 Silk Road now had over a thousand people registered: Eileen Ormsby, Silk Road (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2014).
83 “Updating a live site to a whole new version is no easy task”: RUTE GX 240B.
83 Gawker published an in-depth story about Silk Road: Adrian Chen, “The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable,” Gawker, June 1, 2011, http://gawker.com/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imag-30818160.
83 over a thousand new people were registering for Silk Road: Ormsby.
84 “online form of money laundering used to disguise”: “Schumer Pushes to Shut Down Online Drug Marketplace,” June 5, 2011, http://www .nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Schumer-Calls-on-Feds-to-Shut-Down-Online-Drug-Marketplace-123187958.html.
85 earning $17,000 from the sale of his mushrooms, and $14,000 from commissions: RUTE GX 250.
85 “I was mentally taxed, and now I felt extremely vulnerable”: RUTE GX 240B.
86 15,000 new people joined the forums: Data on forum usage available at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=stats.
86 He said he had long avoided determining: Martti Malmi to BTCF, June 11, 2011.
90 The selling continued until 260,000 Bitcoins were purchased: IRC, June 19, 2011.
95 appeared briefly, via Skype, on The Bitcoin Show: Episode 25, June 19, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye_81RH6wiI.
95 “Ready guys?”: An archived version of this chat is available at http://pastebin.com/d7vp06hL.
96 “it’s likely to go the way of other”: Peter Cohan, “Can Bitcoin Survive, Is It Legal?” Forbes, June 28, 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2011/06/28/can-bitcoin-survive-is-it-legal/.
97 the founder of a small Polish Bitcoin exchange, Bitomat, announced: Kyt Dotson, “Third Largest Bitcoin Exchange Bitomat Lost Their Wallet, Over 17,000 Bitcoins Missing,” Silicon Angle, August 1, 2011, http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/08/01/third-largest-bitcoin-exchange-bitomat-lost-their-wallet-over-17000-bitcoins-missing/.
98 The founder of the site, a man who called himself Tom Williams, was unresponsive: Adrianne Jeffries, “Search for Owners of MyBitcoin Loses Steam,” BetaBeat, New York Observer, August 19, 2011, http://observer.com/2011/08/search-for-owners-of-mybitcoin-loses-steam/.
102 “I know for sure attendees are flying in”: Bruce Wagner to BTCF, July 27, 2011.
104 “You can call me an idiot and yeah”: Gavin’s presentation is viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ljx4bbJrYE.
104 “be making a HUGE HUGE HUGE announcement at the Conference”: Bruce Wagner to BTCF, August 14, 2011.
104 “If that’s not enough”: Wagner’s presentation is viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv0SdUNcBKc.
110 The announcement from the Free State Project: Erik Voorhees to BTCF, October 8, 2011.
111 The people who had been attending the New York Bitcoin Meetup: Disposition to BTCF, October 4, 2011.
112 “the sanctity of the individual, the priority”: Mark Lilla, “The Truth About Our Libertarian Age: Why the Dogma of Democracy Doesn’t Always Make the World Better,” New Republic, June 17, 2014, http://www.newrepublic .com/article/118043/our-libertarian-age-dogma-democracy-dogma-decline.
112 “libertarian, going to replace all other currencies”: Jed McCaleb to BTCF, May 16, 2011.
114 MyBitcoin users went to the FBI’s cybercrime unit: Adrianne Jeffries, “MyBitcoin.com Is Back: A Week After Vanishing with at Least $250 K. Worth of BTC, Site Claims It Was Hacked,” BetaBeat, New York Observer, August 5, 2011, http://observer.com/2011/08/mybitcoin-disappeared-with-bitcoins/.
115 “Have you ever thought about doing”: Richard Bates, RUTT, January 22, 2015.
115 “I’m sure the authorities would be very interested”: Richard Bates, RUTT, January 22, 2015.
116 He lied to Richard as one part of his effort to cover his tracks: RUTE GX 226D.
116 the site had generated $30,000 in commissions: RUTE GX 250.
116 in September Ross hired his first staff member: RUTE GX 250 and GX 240B.
117 he sold his pickup truck and moved to Sydney, Australia: David Kushner, “Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht’s Big Fall,” Rolling Stone, February 4, 2014, http://www.rollingstone .com/culture/news/dead-end-on-silk-road-internet-crime-kingpin-ross-ulbrichts-big-fall-20140204.
117 He would fit in his work around trips to Bondi beach: RUTE GX 240C.
118 “the biggest and strongest willed character I had met”: RUTE GX 240B.
118 Variety Jones came up with a clever idea: RUTE GX 226D.
119 vendors in at least eleven countries: Nicolas Christin, “Traveling the Silk Road: A Measurement Analysis of a Large Anonymous Online Marketplace,” Working Paper, November 28, 2012.
120 An academic study of Silk Road: Ibid.
120 In March, that amounted to nearly $90,000: RUTE GX 250.
121 In real life, DigitalInk’s name was Jacob George: Ian Duncan, “Silk Road Drug Dealer Pleads Guilty,” Baltimore Sun, November 5, 2013, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-11-05/news/bs-md-silk-road-plea-20131105_1_drug-dealer-ross-william-ulbricht-jacob-theodore-george-iv.
130 “He has not broken any rules and silk road”: Sealed complaint against Charlie Shrem filed by IRS Special Agent Gary Alford, January 24, 2014.
132 Federal Reserve had held a daylong conference: Information about the conference is available at http://www.kc.frb.org/publications/research/pscp/pscp-2012.cfm.
133 Canadian government announced the launch: Emily Jackson, “Royal Canadian Mint to Create Digital Currency,” Toronto Star, April 11, 2012, http://www.thestar.com/business/2012/04/11/royal_canadian_ mint_to_create_digital_currency.html.
137 “it funds a decent percentage of the overall”: Sealed complaint against Charlie Shrem filed by IRS Special Agent Gary Alford, January 24, 2014.
141 group agreed that the bylaws for the foundation would be posted on GitHub: The bylaws are available at https://github.com/pmlaw/The-Bitcoin-Foundation-Legal-Repo/tree/master/Bylaws.
154 the company made $750 million for its investors: Eric Markowitz, “The $750 Million ‘Mistake,’” Inc., December 14, 2011, http://www .inc.com/articles/201112/argentine-entrepreneur-750-million-mistake .html.
158 the Argentinian government ordered his company, PayPal: “Paypal Suspends Domestic Transactions in Argentina,” BBC News, September 17, 2012, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19605499.
159 35 percent lower than the rate available on the street: Historical data on the two different exchange rates available at http://dolarblue.net/historico/.
160 the first-ever Bitcoin Meetup in Argentina: Information on the meetups is available at http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin-Argentina/.
167 Some $1.2 million worth of Bitcoin: Nicolas Christin, “Traveling the Silk Road: A Measurement Analysis of a Large Anonymous Online Marketplace,” Working Paper, November 28, 2012.
167 seventy thousand different topics on Silk Road’s forum: Eileen Ormsby, Silk Road (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2014).
168 His work on Silk Road was done at an Internet café around the corner: Sealed complaint against Ross Ulbricht filed by FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell, September 27, 2013.
168 Over the summer, a Silk Road user had managed to follow a series of transactions: Ormsby.
169 paying the attacker $25,000: RUTE GX 250.
169 Ross explained that he was changing his writing style: Ormsby.
169 In November, Ross flew to Dominica: RUTE GX 291.
169 “put yourself in the shoes of a prosecutor”: RUTE GX 225B.
170 Ross decided to help nob sell his kilogram: Superseding indictment against Ross Ulbricht filed by the Grand Jury for the District of Maryland, October 1, 2013.
171 Ross had always been somewhat skeptical: RUTE GX240B.
171 “beat up, then forced to send the Bitcoins he stole back”: Superseding indictment against Ross Ulbricht filed by the Grand Jury for the District of Maryland, October 1, 2013. Ross has not yet been tried on the charges in the Maryland indictment and has not been found guilty on any counts related to murder.
186 “PayPal will give citizens worldwide more”: Eric Jackson, PayPal Wars (Washington, DC: WND Books, 2004).
187 Thiel advocating for floating structures: “Peter Thiel Offers $100,000 in Matching Donations to TSI, Makes Grant of $250,000,” Sea-steading Institute, February 10, 2010, http://www.seasteading. org/2010/02/peter-thiel-offers-100000-matching-donations-tsi-makes-grant-250000/.
187 aiming for the colonization of Mars: Adam Mann, “Elon Musk Wants to Build 80,000-Person Mars Colony,” Wired, November 26, 2012, http://www.wired.com/2012/11/elon-musk-mars-colony/.
190 In June 2012 the founders announced: BFL (Butterfly Labs) to BTCF, June 16, 2012.
190 a young Chinese immigrant in New York, Yifu Guo, announced: ngzhang to BTCF, September 17, 2012.
191 that power doubled again in just one month after Yifu’s machines: Historical data on the hashing power available at https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate.
195 “This is a dark day for Bitcoin”: “Breaking: The Blockchain Has Forked,” Bitcoin Trader, March 11, 2013, http://www.thebitcointrader .com/2013/03/breaking-blockchain-has-forked.html.
196 “clarify the applicability of the regulations implementing”: The FinCen guidance is available at http://fincen.gov/statutes_regs/guidance/html/FIN-2013-G001.html.
199 Martti Malmi posted an entry on his company’s website: Martti Malmi, “SC5’er Intro: The Bitcoin Guy,” SC5 website, February 5, 2013, http://sc5.io/posts/sc5er-intro-the-bitcoin-guy.
205 “As a VC, my interest in the Bitcoin ecosystem is not ideological”: Jeremy Liew, “Why VCs Love the Bitcoin Market,” TechCrunch, April 5, 2013, http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/05/why-do-vcs-care-about-bitcoin/.
206 The BitInstant engineers congregated with their laptops: The scene in the office was captured in unreleased footage from Nicholas Mross’s documentary The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin (2014), shared with the author.
207 Mark Karpeles assured his users that the problems were due to the volume of trade: Vitalik Buterin, “The Bitcoin Crash: An Examination,” Bitcoin Magazine, April 13, 2013, https://bitcoinmagazine.com/4113/the-bitcoin-crash-an-examination/.
211 “For the time being, Bitcoin is in many ways”: Felix Salmon, “The Bitcoin Bubble and the Future of Currency,” News Genius, http://genius.com/Felix-salmon-the-bitcoin-bubble-and-the-future-of-currency-annotated.
211 finally went public in the New York Times: Nathaniel Popper and Peter Lattman, “Never Mind Facebook; Winklevoss Twins Rule in Digital Money,” New York Times, April 11, 2013, http://dealbook .nytimes.com/2013/04/11/as-big-investors-emerge-bitcoin-gets-ready-for-its-close-up/?_r=0.
211 a national television station in China broadcast a half-hour segment: The May 3, 2013, segment is available at http://jingji.cntv.cn/2013/05/03/VIDE1367596319388137.shtml.
211 $2 million into BitPay: The announcement is available at http://www .marketwatch.com/story/bitpay-raises-2-million-led-by-founders-fund-2013-05-16.
212 $5 million into Coinbase: The announcement is available at https://www.usv.com/post/coinbase.
213 Mark was sued in a Seattle court by CoinLab: Complaint filed by Coin-Lab against Mt. Gox on May 2, 2013, in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
213 money in Mt. Gox’s two American bank accounts—some $5 million—was seized: Romain Dillet, “Feds Seize Another $2.1 Million from Mt. Gox, Adding Up to $5 Million,” TechCrunch, August 23, 2013, http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/23/feds-seize-another-2-1-million-from-mt-gox-adding-up-to-5-million/.
218 federal prosecutors arrested the operators of Liberty Reserve: Information on the arrest is available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/press releases/May13/LibertyReservePR.php.
218 the top financial regulator in California sent the Bitcoin Foundation: The letter was posted by the executive director of the foundation at http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/06/23/bitcoin-foundation-receives-cease-and-desist-order-from-california/.
224 announced a few days after Charlie shut down BitInstant: Erik Voorhees to BTCF, July 17, 2013.
225 one-millionth registered account: Eileen Ormsby, Silk Road (Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, 2014).
225 commissions collected by the site often approached over $10,000 a day: RUTE GX 250.
225 Ross agreed to pay $100,000 up front: RUTE GX 241.
226 “Don’t want to be a pain here”: Sealed complaint against Ross Ulbricht filed by FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell, September 27, 2013.
226 paid for with 3,000 Bitcoins, or roughly $500,000: Letter opposing Ross Ulbricht’s release on bail, filed by Assistant United States Attorney Serrin Turner, November 20, 2013. These alleged murders and the chats between Ross and redandwhite were discussed during Ross Ulbricht’s trial, but Ross was not charged with any counts of murder for hire and Canadian police never found any evidence of any suspicious deaths during this time that might be tied to Ross.
227 He moved out of his friend’s apartment in June: Sealed complaint against Ross Ulbricht filed by FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell, September 27, 2013.
227 “encrypt and backup important files”: Letter opposing Ross Ulbricht’s release on bail, filed by Assistant United States Attorney Serrin Turner, November 20, 2013.
228 “Without going into details, the stress of being”: Dread Pirate Roberts to Silk Road forum, September 20, 2013.
228 Ross assigned Variety Jones: RUTE GX 241.
228 When agents knocked on the door: Sealed complaint against Ross Ulbricht filed by FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell, September 27, 2013.
229 Ross changed apartments: Thomas Kiernan, RUTT, January 22, 2013.
238 opened 350,000 free Blockchain.info wallets: Data on wallets available at https://blockchain.info/charts/my-wallet-n-users.
240 At a Bitcoin Meetup in July 2013, two hundred: Information on the meetups is available at http://www.meetup.com/bitcoin-Argentina/.
241 “You don’t have to be battling”: Jose Crettaz, “Bitcoin: Fiebre argentina por la máquina de dinero digital,” La Nación, June 30, 2013, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1596773-bitcoin-pasion-argentina-por-la-nueva-maquina-de-hacer-billetes-digitales.
241 the peso was down some 25 percent: Historical data on the two different exchange rates available at http://dolarblue.net/historico/.
245 wobbling out of control in late September: All details in this paragraph are from RUTE GS 241.
245 “I have poison oak rash”: RUTE GX 325.
246 The next day he spent the morning working: Jered Der-Yeghiayan, RUTT, January 14, 2015.
246 He headed to the far side of the library: RUTE GX 128H.
246 “sure, someone could stand behind you”: RUTE GX 225B.
247 “dread: im ok, you?”: RUTE GX 129C.
247 There were 25,689 orders in transit: Numbers are taken from a screen shot of Ross’s computer on the day of his arrest; it was submitted by the government as evidence before Ross’s trial.
247 This was the signal that cirrus had: Jered Der-Yeghiayan, RUTT, January 14, 2015.
248 “I’m so sick of you,” the woman shouted: David Kushner, “Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht’s Big Fall,” Rolling Stone, February 4, 2014, http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/dead-end-on-silk-road-internet-crime-kingpin-ross-ulbrichts-big-fall-20140204.
248 As Ross turned around to see what was: Thomas Kiernan, RUTT, January 22, 2013.
248 did so by searching on Google through old: Gary Alford, RUTT, January 26, 2013.
249 Users of Silk Road visiting the hidden site that morning: “FBI Arrests Silk Road Drug Site Suspect,” BBC News, October 2, 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-24373759.
251 In court, Ross was in shackles: “Attorney Denies Charges That San Francisco Man Operated Encrypted Drug Website,” Associated Press, October 4, 2013.
257 China’s previous experience with a successful virtual currency: Mark Lee, “China Bans Online Virtual Money Dealing for Minors,” Bloomberg, June 22, 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-06-22/tencent-shares-fall-after-china-announces-virtual-currency-ban-for-minors.
259 The reporter for Channel 2 tracked: The May 3, 2013, segment is available at http://jingji.cntv.cn/2013/05/03/VIDE1367596319388137.shtml.
260 Macao, seven times bigger, in revenue terms, than Las Vegas: Charles Riley, “Macau’s Gambling Industry Dwarfs Vegas,” CNNMoney, January 6, 2014, http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/06/news/macau-casino-gambling/index.html.
261 a division of Baidu, the search engine giant and the fifth-most-visited website in the world, announced: Vitalik Buterin, “Baidu Jiasule and the Chinese Bitcoin Community,” Bitcoin Magazine, October 16, 2013, https://bitcoinmagazine.com/7492/baidu-jiasule-and-the-chinese-bitcoin-community/.
262 John Donahoe, said in an interview: Andrea Felsted, “Ebay to Expand the Range of Digital Currencies It Accepts,” Financial Times, November 3, 2013.
266 “long-term promise, particularly if the innovations”: Ben Bernanke letter to Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, September 6, 2013.
268 A story the previous week in Xinhua: Xinhua story is available at http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2013-11/15/c_118148623.htm.
269 “I do not want to shut down or stamp out Bitcoin”: Morgan Peck, “If Senators Really Like Bitcoin They Should Encourage Banks to Cooperate,” IEEE Spectrum, November 21, 2014, http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/networks/us-senate-.
269 Silk Road 2.0 showed up on the dark web: Eileen Ormsby, “Remember, Remember . . . Silk Road Redux,” All Things Vice, November 7, 2013, http://allthingsvice.com/2013/11/07/remember-remember-silk-road-redux/.
270 The number of Blockchain.info wallets: Data on wallets available at https://blockchain.info/charts/my-wallet-n-users.
271 But the relatively apathetic public response: David Lauter, “Public Largely Tunes Out NSA Surveillance Debate, Poll Finds,” Los Angeles Times, January 20, 2014.
271 “We see the intrinsic value of Bitcoin”: Gil Luria, “Bitcoin: Intrinsic Value as Conduit for Disruptive Payment Network Technology,” Wed-bush Equity Research, December 1, 2013.
272 “emerge as a serious competitor”: David Woo, “Bitcoin: A First Assessment,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch FX and Rates Research, December 5, 2013.
274 The good news was that the agencies: The Chinese government statement is available at http://www.pbc.gov.cn/publish/goutongjiaoliu/524/2013/20131205153156832222251/20131 205153156832222251_.html.
286 Krugman focused largely on Bitcoin’s claim: Paul Krugman, “Bitcoin Is Evil,” New York Times, December 28, 2013, http://krugman.blogs .nytimes.com/2013/12/28/bitcoin-is-evil/.
286 Cowen, meanwhile, argued: Tyler Cowen, “How and Why Bitcoin Will Plummet in Price,” Marginal Revolution, December 30, 2013, http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/12/how-and-why-bitcoin-will-plummet-in-price.html.
287 “to an extent that makes a sub-Saharan African kleptocracy”: Charles Stross, “Why I Want Bitcoin to Die in a Fire,” Charlie’s Diary, December 18, 2013, http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/12/why-i-want-bitcoin-to-die-in-a.html.
289 “It represents a remarkable conceptual”: Francois Velde, “Bitcoin: A Primer,” Chicago Fed Letter, December 2013.
289 Overstock announced that it would begin: The announcement is available at http://blog.coinbase.com/post/72787431702/coinbase-and-overstock-com-announce-largest.
290 Overstock processed more than $100,000 in orders: Sales data available at http://www.prweb.com/releases/bitcoin2014Keynote/PatrickByrne/prweb 11699797.htm.
291 Thiel called him the “firefighter-in-chief”: Evelyn M. Rusli, “A King of Connections Is Tech’s Go-To Guy,” New York Times, November 5, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/business/reid-hoffman-of-linkedin-has-become-the-go-to-guy-of-tech.html?pagewanted=all.
291 Hoffman later introduced Thiel to Mark Zuckerberg: David Kirkpatrick, The Facebook Effect (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010).
294 “The gulf between what the press and many”: Marc Andreessen, “Why Bitcoin Matters,” DealBook, New York Times, January 21, 2014, http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/why-bitcoin-matters/.
295 He believed that it could help open the door: A transcript of Balaji’s talk at Startup School 2013 is available at https://nydwracu.word press.com/2013/10/28/transcript-balaji-srinivasan-on-silicon-valleys-ultimate-exit/.
299 The prosecutors had e-mails in which: Sealed complaint against Charlie Shrem filed by IRS Special Agent Gary Alford, January 24, 2014.
300 “If you want to develop a virtual currency”: The press release announcing Charlie’s arrest is available at http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/January14/SchremFaiellaChargesPR.php.
303 told CNBC in late January: Jamie Dimon, interviewed on CNBC, January 23, 2014.
309 In a statement, Mark explained: While material from the Mt. Gox web-site has been deleted, the full statement is still available at http://pando .com/2014/02/10/blame-game-embattled-mt-gox-points-to-flaws-in-bitcoin-protocol-bitcoin-community-calls-bs/.
310 He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt: The confrontation was recorded and is viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9Ak1t09Ao.
315 “This tragic violation of the trust of users”: The statement is available at http://blog.coinbase.com/post/77766809700/joint-statement-regarding-mtgox.
316 lawyers in Chicago and Denver filed a lawsuit: Jonathan Stempel and Emily Flitter, “Mt. Gox Sued in United States over Bitcoin Losses,” Reuters, February 28, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/28/bitcoin-mtgox-lawsuit-idUSL1N0LX1QK20140228.
317 An academic study in 2013: Tyler Moore and Nicolas Christin. “Beware the Middleman: Empirical Analysis of Bitcoin-Exchange Risk.” In Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi, editor, Financial Cryptography, volume 7859 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science (New York: Springer, 2013).
317 “The only way to stabilise the system is”: Izabella Kaminska, “Magic: The Undercapitalized Gathering Online,” FT Alphaville, March 3, 2014, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/2014/03/03/1787992/magic-the-under capitalised-gathering-online/.
319 The Newsweek reporter, Leah McGrath Goodman, had: Leah McGrath Goodman, “The Face Behind Bitcoin,” Newsweek, March 6, 2014, http://www.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/face-behind-bitcoin-247957.html.
321 “Why did you create Bitcoin, sir?”: The video of Dorian Nakamoto leaving his house is viewable at http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/07/satoshi-nakamoto-denies-inventing-bitcoin.
323 “simply be an old man saying ANYTHING”: Gavin’s letter to McGrath Goodman is available at http://www.reddit.com/r/bitcoin/comments/1zqjq6/open_letter_to_leah_mcgrath/.
323 In an Amazon review of Danish butter cookies: The review is available at http://www.amazon.com/review/R3U92F9YRUSF37.
323 The AP’s story and video from its interview: The interview is viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422579428&x-yt-cl= 85114404&v=GrrtA6IoR_E.
324 An Argentinian security expert, Sergio Lerner, had done: Sergio Demian Lerner, “The Well Deserved Fortune of Satoshi Nakamoto, BitcoinCreator, Visionary and Genius,” Bitslog, April 17, 2013, https://bitslog.wordpress.com/2013/04/17/the-well-deserved-fortune-of-satoshi-nakamoto/. 333 “Friends, citizens, Bitcoiners, there is nothing”: Charlie’s speech is viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH7mCO5EnDU.
334 “I think it’s very obvious to all of us”: Gregory Ferenstein, “Google’s Jared Cohen: It’s ‘Obvious’ Bitcoin-Like Currencies Are ‘Inevitable,’” TechCrunch, March 8, 2014, http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/08/googles-jared-cohen-its-obvious-bitcoin-like-currencies-are-inevitable/.
335 “You don’t get the new technology from”: Andreessen’s comments are from his speech at Coinsummit 2014, which is viewable at https://www .youtube.com/watch?v=iir5J6Z3Z1Q.
339 Nick’s writing: Nick’s writings are available at http://unenumerated .blogspot.com/.
339-40 Most bizarrely, Nick altered the dates: the dates that Nick later put on the posts are at the top of each post. But the URL addresses of the posts still show the original posting date. For instance, his post on “Bit Gold Markets” says that it was written on December 27, 2008, but the URL is http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2008/04/bit-gold-markets .html#links.
339 “repeated use of ‘of course’ without isolating commas”: Skye Grey, “Satoshi Nakamoto Is (Probably) Nick Szabo,” LikeinaMirror, December 1, 2013, https://likeinamirror.wordpress.com/2013/12/01/satoshi-nakamoto-is-probably-nick-szabo/.
348 a hacker demanding ransom was targeting Hal: Robert McMillan, “An Extortionist Has Been Making Life Hell for Bitcoin’s Earliest Adopters,” Wired, December 29, 2014, http://www.wired.com/2014/12/finney-swat/.
353 The United States Marshals Service had auctioned off the 29,655: Tim Draper’s announcement is available at https://medium.com/mirror-blog/tim-draper-wins-govt-auction-partners-with-vaurum-to-provide-bit coin-liquidity-in-emerging-markets-88f04a1d8598.
353 Wences officially announced the $20 million: The Xapo announcement is available at https://blog.xapo.com/xapo-raises-20-million-investment-led-by-greylock-partne/.
354 Gates had initially bet against the open Internet and built a closed network: Kathy Rebello, “Inside Microsoft: The Untold Story of How the Internet Forced Bill Gates to Reverse Course,” BusinessWeek, July 15, 1996.