Did the NSA start bitcoin? Is it an NSA project?

[no-rice-peas]

A follow up from some other threads.

Curious about opinions.

Please no technical stuff like "x^17√31 proves such and such". It's too easy to bullshit with things others don't understand.

http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=15531

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/09/16/cryptographers_attack_nsa_s_secret_effort_to_subvert_internet_security.html

[pedrog]

What kind of control?

They sure have budget to 51% the network, but that would be something that will ring bells everywhere.

They might be trying to submit code and infiltrate the development team like they do with other relevant open source projects but if code is properly reviewed it won't pass.

[no-rice-peas]

What kind of control?

They sure have budget to 51% the network, but that would be something that will ring bells everywhere.

They might be trying to submit code and infiltrate the development team like they do with other relevant open source projects but if code is properly reviewed it won't pass.

What kind of control might they want?

I mean mostly could it be an NSA project?

[Blazr]

The code does exactly what it says it does, computer code is a set of instructions that the computer carries out - there are no secrets or backdoors - we have the code we can see exactly what it does. It really doesn't matter who wrote the first version of Bitcoin (Satoshi client) or who wrote the whitepaper - in fact, the original code has been more or less entirely rewritten now by the core developers.

There is very little evidence to suggest the NSA is behind it, and little motive, I could understand why the NSA would want to compromise something like bitcoin but I cannot see why they would want to start it. So it's just FUD.

[panju1]

This has been in the realm of speculation for long. Whoever started it, whatever be their motives, Bitcoin has acquired a soul of its own now. The source is open code and anybody can check/copy it.

[freemind1]

Nobody controls the network or the Bitcoin protocol, NSA clear who is interested in cryptography, but until today nobody controls, the day that interests them and can scare us. I say mostly because the Quantum Computers.

[Aggressor66]

Whether Bitcoin was created by NSA agents and/or with NSA technology is irrelevant.
Bitcoin is what it is and is not what it is not.

[CoinsForIreland]

The code does exactly what it says it does, computer code is a set of instructions that the computer carries out - there are no secrets or backdoors - we have the code we can see exactly what it does. It really doesn't matter who wrote the first version of Bitcoin (Satoshi client) or who wrote the whitepaper - in fact, the original code has been more or less entirely rewritten now by the core developers.

There is very little evidence to suggest the NSA is behind it, and little motive, I could understand why the NSA would want to compromise something like bitcoin but I cannot see why they would want to start it. So it's just FUD.

If Sha256 were broken would Bitcoin be at risk?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=120473.0