THE WEBSITE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

What’s in a domain? When the domain in question is bitcoin.org and its registrant Satoshi Nakamoto, everything. The Bitcoin whitepaper. The Bitcoin source code. And the blueprint for a monetary system that would change the world. 

Rendered in simple plaintext, the initial homepage ran to just 700 words, the opening paragraph announcing “the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending. It’s completely decentralized with no server or trusted parties.” It was Satoshi’s first public message to the world.

The domain was registered on August 18th, 2008 via a service called AnonymousSpeech, which specialises in anonymous domain and email services. This was achieved using protracted solutions that included cash mailed to a Swiss PO box, e-gold digital currency, and bank wire to a Swiss account under the name “Mike Weber.”

There’s a great irony in the fact that Satoshi had to go to great lengths to purchase the bitcoin.org domain anonymously. If only there’d been some kind of peer-to-peer currency he could have used. With this problem eventually solved, however, he set about spinning up a simple site that would form the jumping-off point for Bitcoin’s first intrepid explorers.

Into the Spotlight

Six weeks after registering bitcoin.org, Satoshi was ready to go public with his creation. On October 31st, 2008, he sent his now-famous announcement to the Cryptography Mailing List, linking to the whitepaper. In addition to hosting the whitepaper, the site contained screenshots of the first Bitcoin client interface. It was all early adopters needed to download the SourceForge link and begin running Bitcoin.

In the coming months, the site expanded to include a proper introduction, a list of Bitcoin’s advantages, and help for new users – but it never strayed far from its simple text-based roots. It emphasised that Bitcoin has “no central authority” and “the real world identity of the parties…can be kept hidden.” 

Advantages touted included “Transfer money easily through the internet, without trusting third parties,” “Third parties can’t prevent or control your transactions,” and protection from the “bad policies of central banks”. Likely written by Satoshi or Martti Malmi – one of the first community members – the content displays distinctive cypherpunk undertones, explicitly highlighting Bitcoin’s freedom from third-party control and inflationary central banks.

Bitcoin.org has stood the test of time, but within two years of the domain’s registration, Satoshi was planning his exit. In typical Satoshi fashion, however, he prepared for all eventualities, including ensuring that Bitcoin’s stewardship was as decentralized as the network itself. As Bitcoin developer Will Binns recounts, “When Satoshi left the project, he gave ownership of the domain to additional people, separate from the Bitcoin developers, to spread responsibility and prevent any one person or group from easily gaining control over the Bitcoin project.”

In the years since, the site has been developed and maintained by different members of the Bitcoin community and still receives millions of visits a year. Like the whitepaper it hosted and source code it linked to, bitcoin.org is an unassuming digital artifact that has changed the world. It’s just a domain. But it’s also the gateway to everything that came next as Bitcoin began transforming everything it touched.