Bitcoin's earliest developers

[pbleak]

Hi all,

I'm just trying to get some historical context of big name developers from 2009, those who would have been in touch with Satoshi.

I know we have Gavin, Mike, maybe Jeff, I assume there are names now lost to time but people here may remember?

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[xdrpx]

From the github contributors list I noticed that on selecting a range between 2009-2010 I can see few developers https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=2009-08-30&to=2010-12-31&type=c and https://github.com/non-github-bitcoin (an account created for commits before the bitcoin-core code was probably migrated to github from sourceforge)

1) Satoshi Nakamoto
2) sirius-m (Martti Malmi)
3) laszloh - based on some commits made here https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/252/log/?path= (go to older and you'll find them all here) https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/123/
4) Gavin Andresen

Leaving this video here for fun too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjYbsq3FXfM (It shows a visualization from 2008 - 2018 all the developers involved based on commits made)

[Kprawn]

I think it is reported somewhere that Nick Szabo also communicated with Satoshi. Hal Finney was also the recipient of the first

Bitcoin transaction, so he had to have contact with Satoshi in some way, other than the Crypto forum they talked on. The

whole secrecy around this, makes this just so more exciting. Why do you want to know? Most of this information is well

documented. {Books like, Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking} 

[LeGaulois]

I think it is reported somewhere that Nick Szabo also communicated with Satoshi. Hal Finney was also the recipient of the first

Bitcoin transaction, so he had to have contact with Satoshi in some way, other than the Crypto forum they talked on. The

whole secrecy around this, makes this just so more exciting. Why do you want to know? Most of this information is well

documented. {Books like, Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking}  

 Hal Finney discovered the Bitcoin project via a cryptography mailing list, then later he interacted with Satoshi via emails

[harimau99]

From the github contributors list I noticed that on selecting a range between 2009-2010 I can see few developers https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=2009-08-30&to=2010-12-31&type=c and https://github.com/non-github-bitcoin (an account created for commits before the bitcoin-core code was probably migrated to github from sourceforge)

1) Satoshi Nakamoto
2) sirius-m (Martti Malmi)
3) laszloh - based on some commits made here https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/252/log/?path= (go to older and you'll find them all here) https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/123/
4) Gavin Andresen

Leaving this video here for fun too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjYbsq3FXfM (It shows a visualization from 2008 - 2018 all the developers involved based on commits made)

Hi Xdrpx, I would like to know is there any active link besides the one that you share ?
perhaps some that many to copy the repos?

Thanks in advance and Best Regards.

[nc50lc]

Here is the list of Bitcoin Core's developers, it's in the bitcoin.org site all along: bitcoin.org/en/development
The names are clickable as a link to view their Github profiles.
The earliest developers like Gavin Andresen are in the list too.

[hugeblack]

Hi all,

I'm just trying to get some historical context of big name developers from 2009, those who would have been in touch with Satoshi.

I know we have Gavin, Mike, maybe Jeff, I assume there are names now lost to time but people here may remember?

If you use Google, you will find information everyone knows, but I will give you a little trick that you can get better information.
Use bitcointalk ID and google.
From bitcointalk URL: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u= Edit the user's ID sequentially and use Google to get information
This is your List:
1. Admin: Demo Account.
2. Unknown account: Demo Account.
3.

satoshi: Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the unknown person or people who designed bitcoin and created its original reference implementation.[1]

4.

sirius: Martti Malmi, was the second Bitcoin developer after Satoshi [2]

5. Unknown account: Demo Account "Maybe it's made by "sirius" ".
6. nandnor: You will get new information if you search well.
7-9: Demo Accounts.
10. Xunie: Unkown devolper.
.
.
.
13. SmokeTooMuch: the first German Bitcoiner

[buwaytress]

Hi all,

I'm just trying to get some historical context of big name developers from 2009, those who would have been in touch with Satoshi.

I know we have Gavin, Mike, maybe Jeff, I assume there are names now lost to time but people here may remember?

If you use Google, you will find information everyone knows, but I will give you a little trick that you can get better information.
Use bitcointalk ID and google.
From bitcointalk URL: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u= Edit the user's ID sequentially and use Google to get information
This is your List:
1. Admin: Demo Account.
2. Unknown account: Demo Account.
3. satoshi: Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the unknown person or people who designed bitcoin and created its original reference implementation.[1]
4. sirius: Martti Malmi, was the second Bitcoin developer after Satoshi [2]
5. Unknown account: Demo Account "Maybe it's made by "sirius" ".
6. nandnor: You will get new information if you search well.
7-9: Demo Accounts.
10. Xunie: Unkown devolper.
.
.
.
13. SmokeTooMuch: the first German Bitcoiner

Very interesting, am surprised I never discovered this little forum hack myself! I have entertained some ideas (far, far behind on the backburner) of trying to compile a comprehensive list of developers - not only those that contributed directly on github but also those whose early discussions and efforts would have at least made some sort of important contribution. Amir Taaki, for example, I often read about and he's always noted as an "early Bitcoin developer" but I don't see any of his contributions. Then we've got very old projects like Skyledger that claims to have been built by "original Bitcoin developers" but none of their names come up on Github. They do share the same radical outlooks and demeanour - quite unlike the devs active here and on github who I find are very collected, very logical, fastidious (I hope I don't presume).

Posterity is important to me, for some context. But I know a lot of people would be against this sort thing, judging from responses I've seen last year when some new Satoshi emails were unearthed for the first time. Understandable from a privacy point of view.

[hugeblack]

Very interesting, am surprised I never discovered this little forum hack myself! I have entertained some ideas (far, far behind on the backburner) of trying to compile a comprehensive list of developers - not only those that contributed directly on github but also those whose early discussions and efforts would have at least made some sort of important contribution. Amir Taaki, for example, I often read about and he's always noted as an "early Bitcoin developer" but I don't see any of his contributions. Then we've got very old projects like Skyledger that claims to have been built by "original Bitcoin developers" but none of their names come up on Github. They do share the same radical outlooks and demeanour - quite unlike the devs active here and on github who I find are very collected, very logical, fastidious (I hope I don't presume).

Posterity is important to me, for some context. But I know a lot of people would be against this sort thing, judging from responses I've seen last year when some new Satoshi emails were unearthed for the first time. Understandable from a privacy point of view.

Most of these developers are still alive and most of them visit this forum continuously [eg. sirius i see him online many times].
If you read the first posts you will find that satoshi and sirius friends and/or team[November 19, 2009, 09:12:39 PM - November 20, 2009, 10:16:03 AM] So all the information about the Bitcoin with him.
There are also a small number of the first 1000 subscribers connected this month will find one with good information.
If we follow patterns of writing we will find alternative accounts of them.

[MCVXYZ]

From the github contributors list I noticed that on selecting a range between 2009-2010 I can see few developers https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=2009-08-30&to=2010-12-31&type=c and https://github.com/non-github-bitcoin (an account created for commits before the bitcoin-core code was probably migrated to github from sourceforge)

1) Satoshi Nakamoto
2) sirius-m (Martti Malmi)
3) laszloh - based on some commits made here https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/252/log/?path= (go to older and you'll find them all here) https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/123/
4) Gavin Andresen

Leaving this video here for fun too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjYbsq3FXfM (It shows a visualization from 2008 - 2018 all the developers involved based on commits made)

I know this about Gavin Andersen but there are questions about satoshi  nakamoto,I always wondered whether it's just names or their real face,what do you think about this? In my opinion creators were trying to hide their real names because of legal issues,as we know there are a lot of bitcoin opponents and all of them are trying to make a legal dispute against bitcoin,So it would be more clever desicion to hide their real faces and that's what happens but its really interesting whose names are these

[gentlemand]

Anyone interested in Bitcoin's early history should give Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper a read. It becomes bogged down in now irrelevant business noodling later on, but the first part is a neat summary of the very early days.

[pbleak]

From the github contributors list I noticed that on selecting a range between 2009-2010 I can see few developers https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=2009-08-30&to=2010-12-31&type=c and https://github.com/non-github-bitcoin (an account created for commits before the bitcoin-core code was probably migrated to github from sourceforge)

1) Satoshi Nakamoto
2) sirius-m (Martti Malmi)
3) laszloh - based on some commits made here https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/252/log/?path= (go to older and you'll find them all here) https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/123/
4) Gavin Andresen

Leaving this video here for fun too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjYbsq3FXfM (It shows a visualization from 2008 - 2018 all the developers involved based on commits made)

Thank you, I'm no coder so I didn't know I could just do this. I love that Laszlo, pizza guy, is one of the first involved.

[pbleak]

Here is the list of Bitcoin Core's developers, it's in the bitcoin.org site all along: bitcoin.org/en/development
The names are clickable as a link to view their Github profiles.
The earliest developers like Gavin Andresen are in the list too.

Thanks, I'm looking specifically for those who were involved in 2009, who may not be listed any more.

[pbleak]

Hi all,

I'm just trying to get some historical context of big name developers from 2009, those who would have been in touch with Satoshi.

Excellent, thanks.

[pbleak]

Very interesting, am surprised I never discovered this little forum hack myself! I have entertained some ideas (far, far behind on the backburner) of trying to compile a comprehensive list of developers - not only those that contributed directly on github but also those whose early discussions and efforts would have at least made some sort of important contribution. Amir Taaki, for example, I often read about and he's always noted as an "early Bitcoin developer" but I don't see any of his contributions. Then we've got very old projects like Skyledger that claims to have been built by "original Bitcoin developers" but none of their names come up on Github. They do share the same radical outlooks and demeanour - quite unlike the devs active here and on github who I find are very collected, very logical, fastidious (I hope I don't presume).

Posterity is important to me, for some context. But I know a lot of people would be against this sort thing, judging from responses I've seen last year when some new Satoshi emails were unearthed for the first time. Understandable from a privacy point of view.

Amir created BIPs and libbitcoin

[pbleak]

I think it is reported somewhere that Nick Szabo also communicated with Satoshi. Hal Finney was also the recipient of the first

Bitcoin transaction, so he had to have contact with Satoshi in some way, other than the Crypto forum they talked on. The

whole secrecy around this, makes this just so more exciting. Why do you want to know? Most of this information is well

documented. {Books like, Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking} 

I'm writing a history of Bitcoin so just seeing if I'm missing anyone.

[pbleak]

Anyone interested in Bitcoin's early history should give Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper a read. It becomes bogged down in now irrelevant business noodling later on, but the first part is a neat summary of the very early days.

I've read all the books. I'm sort of seeing whether a post like this catches the eye of someone who says, nobody ever talks about so and so.

[J-N]

From the github contributors list I noticed that on selecting a range between 2009-2010 I can see few developers https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=2009-08-30&to=2010-12-31&type=c and https://github.com/non-github-bitcoin (an account created for commits before the bitcoin-core code was probably migrated to github from sourceforge)

As far as I know the earliest versions of Bitcoin were published on SourceForge, not on Github:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/

Brought to you by: gavinandresen, jgarzik, sipa

As of 2015-06-05, this project can be found here:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/

[deedjou]

My 2 cents,
Did anyone ever tried to compile all Satoshi's post and run a syntaxic analyse on internet? I know that some software are capable to find who wrote what, just by comparing the style, sentences etc..
It would be very surprising that he never wrote elsewhere and without leaving some hint about his identity..
Stupid?

[Carlton Banks]

As far as I know the earliest versions of Bitcoin were published on SourceForge, not on Github:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/

Brought to you by: gavinandresen, jgarzik, sipa

As of 2015-06-05, this project can be found here:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/

Sipa is the only person still working on Bitcoin on that list, and is therefore the longest serving programmer in Bitcoin development. So Sipa has probably contributed to Bitcoin development more than anyone else.

Scratch that, apparently Sipa was not part of the deprecated sourceforge repo that Satoshi set up, or at least he was only part of the effort to move the sourceforge repo over to github in 2010.

[buwaytress]

Amir created BIPs and libbitcoin

Thanks! You're the second person I've seen trying to write about those whose names have fallen off the grid (I assume correctly?). As I mentioned, at least one of the devs of Skyledger is claimed to be one of the early developers - all the Googling I've found points only to one recent video interview that suggests a bit of deep knowledge but nothing that couldn't be gleaned off just following discussions. I've also been following the trails of some others, all cypherpunks of some water, only for interest but I can't help but wonder if any were involved in launching the Bitcoin experiment.

My 2 cents,
Did anyone ever tried to compile all Satoshi's post and run a syntaxic analyse on internet? I know that some software are capable to find who wrote what, just by comparing the style, sentences etc..
It would be very surprising that he never wrote elsewhere and without leaving some hint about his identity..
Stupid?

Already done many years ago when it was quite fashionable for journalists to try their investigative skills and claim the find for themselves. Satoshi's writing was quite consistent, and it is likely the inconsistencies were deliberate obfuscation. One of the most compelling results led to a patent application for encryption, but the three who submitted all denied links (Neal King, Charles Bry, Vladimir Oksman) and even had no knowledge of Bitcoin (so weren't that connected to cypherpunk communities?). So false positives?

[achow101]

Sipa is the only person still working on Bitcoin on that list, and is therefore the longest serving programmer in Bitcoin development. So Sipa has probably contributed to Bitcoin development more than anyone else.

I'm pretty sure that sipa was only added to that list so that he could help migrate/maintain the bitcoin-dev mailing list. Development had moved from sourceforge to github in 2010 before the sourceforge repo was abandoned.

IIRC all of Wladimir, Pieter, Greg, Gavin, Jeff, and Matt all got involved within months of each other in 2010-2011. I think Wladimir is actually the longest contributing active contributor.

The person who contributed the longest and is still somewhat active is actually Dooglus.


A good place to find this kind of history is to scroll through the git log in reverse (i.e. earliest commit first).

[Carlton Banks]

Sipa is the only person still working on Bitcoin on that list, and is therefore the longest serving programmer in Bitcoin development. So Sipa has probably contributed to Bitcoin development more than anyone else.

I'm pretty sure that sipa was only added to that list so that he could help migrate/maintain the bitcoin-dev mailing list.

Hmmm, invalid supposition is invalid. Amended my post.


Can a mod give buwaytress his merit back? Turns out I shouldn't have been given it.

[pbleak]

Thanks! You're the second person I've seen trying to write about those whose names have fallen off the grid (I assume correctly?). As I mentioned, at least one of the devs of Skyledger is claimed to be one of the early developers - all the Googling I've found points only to one recent video interview that suggests a bit of deep knowledge but nothing that couldn't be gleaned off just following discussions. I've also been following the trails of some others, all cypherpunks of some water, only for interest but I can't help but wonder if any were involved in launching the Bitcoin experiment.

Interesting, could you send me any details, would love to hear!

[J-N]

It's pretty funny, but the earliest developers of Bitcoin used the source code of the application as a forum board. They commented some lines of code, for example: "Why Base58 is used instead of standard Base64?" Then they gave an answer commenting code again.

[achow101]

It's pretty funny, but the earliest developers of Bitcoin used the source code of the application as a forum board. They commented some lines of code, for example: "Why Base58 is used instead of standard Base64?" Then they gave an answer commenting code again.

No, that's not meant as a forum board but rather providing a question that people are going to ask and then answering it. The source code as not used to ask questions like that. If you look carefully, you'll see that both the question and answer were written by the same person (satoshi) in the same commit.

[Wind_FURY]

Some speculation about Gavin Andresen, sorry for being off-topic.

What happened to him and why is he trying to tell everyone that Craig Wright is the "real" Satoshi? It is almost like he's trying to defame himself.

Maybe it has something to do with his visit to the CIA headquarters? What did he share from the meeting?

Plus what of the stories that Satoshi went offline forever after Gavin went to the CIA?

Gavin is not stupid but some of his actions have become bizarre from what I read.

[nokati]

Wich of the early devs are still active on bitcoin development?

[pbleak]

Some speculation about Gavin Andresen, sorry for being off-topic.

What happened to him and why is he trying to tell everyone that Craig Wright is the "real" Satoshi? It is almost like he's trying to defame himself.

Maybe it has something to do with his visit to the CIA headquarters? What did he share from the meeting?

Plus what of the stories that Satoshi went offline forever after Gavin went to the CIA?

Gavin is not stupid but some of his actions have become bizarre from what I read.

It seems he is just a bit gullible. Being a good coder does not mean being resistant to con artists.

[pbleak]

Wich of the early devs are still active on bitcoin development?

How early?

[nokati]

First or second year early...

[BTCerm]

According to Wiki, On 18 August 2008, the domain name bitcoin.org was registered. Later that year on 31 October, a link to a paper authored by Satoshi Nakamoto titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System was posted to a cryptography mailing list.  This paper detailed methods of using a peer-to-peer network to generate what was described as "a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust".In January 2009, the bitcoin network came into existence with the release of the first open source bitcoin client and the issuance of the first bitcoins, with Satoshi Nakamoto mining the first block of bitcoins ever (known as the genesis block), which had a reward of 50 bitcoins. Embedded in the coinbase of this block was the text:

The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.

This note has been interpreted as both a timestamp of the genesis date and a derisive comment on the instability caused by fractional-reserve banking.

One of the first supporters, adopters, contributor to bitcoin and receiver of the first bitcoin transaction was programmer Hal Finney. Finney downloaded the bitcoin software the day it was released, and received 10 bitcoins from Nakamoto in the world's first bitcoin transaction. Other early supporters were Wei Dai, creator of bitcoin predecessor b-money, and Nick Szabo, creator of bitcoin predecessor bit gold.