Bitcoin Forum

[1] Why was Satoshi the first person to design a viable crypto?

I mean there must have been legions of computer scientists, IT people, hackers, mathematicians and really really smart people thinking about this

but what was it that allowed Satoshi to make the breakthrough,

both in terms of insight and surrounding tech/maths/ etc

[2] Though far more speculative but for Satoshi how long would it be until crypto was developed anyway?

[3] Why is the intersection of people across legal/finance, eg how the banking system, money supply etc is set up and how comp sci, computers, etc work so shallow?

This article might be of interest to you:
http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/3140000/3136559/p20-narayanan.pdf?ip=213.47.139.106&id=3136559&acc=OPEN&key=4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E6D218144511F3437&__acm__=1531246903_43cea13ebff559f61941f2610ceb21cc

In essence, all of the pieces that nowadays lie at the foundation of cryptocurrencies were already conceptualized by other researchers -- linked timestamping, Merkle trees, proof of work... it's just that Satoshi happened to be the first one to put these pieces together and applied them in a wholly new way that led to Bitcoin.

In other words, Satoshi too, merely stood on the shoulders of giants. Whether it was his brilliance, pure luck or lateral thinking that led to the conception of cryptocurrencies -- who knows. But they definitely timed it quite well, with the 2008 banking crisis still fresh in everyone's mind and the internet becoming ever more prevalent while still lacking a native currency.

He was pissed. Angry about the current system. And for that reason, he worked so much time alone and then in the company of a few people. Many others who came close to creating something similar had a different approach. They thought totally in a theoretical way, far from reality. They did not have as the main motivation to attract more people, they wanted more recognition or money.

Satoshi wanted that his idea was spread, eroding the system.

He even complained when a single person was mining too much, making it difficult for others to mine too. laszlo commented on having received a message from him complaining about it. Even today it is possible to understand how this is unique. As a large part of the projects are centralized, driven by profit and short-term visions.

In addition, Bitcoin is the best project to date. It's the safest, the least buggy, and the best name for something like that.