Satoshi's 1m instamine

[rickC137]

Satoshi allocated 1m BTC for himself.  Was this an instamine via an initial superblock after the genesis block?  Did he just ninjamine the initial 1m coins?  If it was a superblock can someone point me toward the lines in the code base so I can learn how it was setup? 

What is checkpoint protection in premine?

Thank you in advance!

[1714773933]

1714773933

[1714773933]

1714773933

[1714773933]

1714773933

[1714773933]

1714773933

[1714773933]

1714773933

[malevolent]

Satoshi allocated 1m BTC for himself.

 
How can you tell?

Was this an instamine via an initial superblock after the genesis block?

 
No.

Did he just ninjamine the initial 1m coins?

It's a topic of debate whether it was him, and whether it was a single person that mined those ~1M coins.

[ranochigo]

Satoshi allocated 1m BTC for himself.  Was this an instamine via an initial superblock after the genesis block?  Did he just ninjamine the initial 1m coins?  If it was a superblock can someone point me toward the lines in the code base so I can learn how it was setup? 

He didn't allocate any BTC specifically for himself. He was the only one that was mining on the network for sometime and he happened to get loads of BTC from it.

What is checkpoint protection in premine?

It wasn't a premine. Everyone else could mine it.

Checkpointing was introduced quite a lot later, where others are already mining.

[Kprawn]

Someone had to mine those coins to sustain the network and Satoshi had to test the network, so it was not done to pre-mine

it for himself, but rather to support the network and also to prove to other people that it worked. One person is a island, but

as people saw that this could work, they entered and formed a decentralized network. This would not have been possible, if

Satoshi did not mine those coins. 

[Heisenberg_Hunter]

Since today the price of btc skyrocketed, you are worrying about the 1m coins. What if satoshi didn't mine and the btc network wasn't popular? you would not have worried about the 1m coins which would have been worthless today. Once the genesis block was mined on Jan 3,2009 it took around 6-10 months for the coin to get popular.

Satoshi allocated 1m BTC for himself.

Just read through the history another time and try to get a clarity on how was btc created. Why didn't you mine the coin during 2009 as it was meant to be. You could have got 1m btc which would have made you a billionaire today.

Was this an instamine via an initial superblock after the genesis block?

There was nothing like an instamine. When the genesis block was mined, it generated 50 coins newly. When you continuously mine it for around 2 years you could have easily generated 1m as the difficulty was easy at that time.

Did he just ninjamine the initial 1m coins?

It took around 2 years for him to mine the 1m coins from Jan 2009- Dec 2010.

Genesis Block code for your reference:

Code:

 // Genesis block
        const char* pszTimestamp = "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks";
        CTransaction txNew;
        txNew.vin.resize(1);
        txNew.vout.resize(1);
        txNew.vin[0].scriptSig = CScript() << 486604799 << CBigNum(4) << vector<unsigned char>((const unsigned char*)pszTimestamp, (const unsigned char*)pszTimestamp + strlen(pszTimestamp));
        txNew.vout[0].nValue = 50 * COIN;
        CBigNum bnPubKey;
        bnPubKey.SetHex("0x5F1DF16B2B704C8A578D0BBAF74D385CDE12C11EE50455F3C438EF4C3FBCF649B6DE611FEAE06279A60939E028A8D65C10B73071A6F16719274855FEB0FD8A6704");
        txNew.vout[0].scriptPubKey = CScript() << bnPubKey << OP_CHECKSIG;
        CBlock block;
        block.vtx.push_back(txNew);
        block.hashPrevBlock = 0;
        block.hashMerkleRoot = block.BuildMerkleTree();
        block.nVersion = 1;
        block.nTime    = 1231006505;
        block.nBits    = 0x1d00ffff;
        block.nNonce   = 2083236893;

[hatshepsut93]

Satoshi allocated 1m BTC for himself.  Was this an instamine via an initial superblock after the genesis block?  Did he just ninjamine the initial 1m coins?  If it was a superblock can someone point me toward the lines in the code base so I can learn how it was setup? 

What is checkpoint protection in premine?

Thank you in advance!

First, it's not a fact that Satoshi mined 1 million coins, it's a theory that might or might not be true.

Second, there was no "instamine" or premine, he added "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" to prove that he didn't mine any blocks before that date with intention to publish longer chain later. So, whatever he mined rightfully belongs to him, this doesn't violate any rules of the network or it's core principles.

[buwaytress]

OP, should really know better by now than to make assumptions. Even the most basic Bitcoin knowledge, coupled with some low-level research to look up this over/under 1 million bitcoin addresses would have answered your basic questions. All the coins there were generated just the way all bitcoins have ever been.

If the theory is true (I'm sure it's mostly true anyway) what I've always been curious to know though is why those coins were just left there and not introduced to circulation. I doubt it was an oversight to have almost 5% of max supply languishing there (not to mention all them dust people keep sending to these wallets), but perhaps they/he never found a solution he/they liked. I'd like to think there's some reason behind it, and that we'd find out some day.

[pereira4]

This is one of the main reasons Bitcoin is unique and unrepeatable: When satoshi was mining, Bitcoin was worthless. "Cryptocurrency" didn't even exist, it was not a phenomenon it is today.
You were literally losing money by mining, since you were wasting electricity in something that had 0 value.

Someone had to get the job done, and satoshi was the creator so he was obviously the first guy to start mining to get the network working, but he released the project into the wild, open source for everyone to mine. If someone didn't pay attention is that they didn't care enough about the subject, they weren't interested.

The fact that it was mostly crypto punks and people interested in technology like Hal Finney was a possitive thing. You want the biggest amounts of coins in the hands of people with an interested in the field, not with an interest in getting rich quick, like all the scammers that came after that.

You can never a cryptocurrency again with an organic development, unless you have a time machine to release it before Bitcoin. This is another reason why Bitcoin is the coin that will always win above the rest.

[rickC137]

I think that I'm being misread here a bit.

I was certainly not indicating that Satoshi had done anything improper or untoward.  I believe that the creator of anything should derive a benefit from the creation; certainly whomever or whatever Satoshi is, Bitcoin was a gift to the world.

I was simply curious if the 1m BTC that I'd heard about was instamined or if it was mined prior to announcement?  Obviously there wasn't a short term incentive to liquidate if all or even a majority of the coins still exist.

Charlie Lee's exodus from LTC was surprising to me, and it showed that not everyone is committed to the same ideals as Satoshi.

[DannyHamilton]

I think that I'm being misread here a bit.

Or perhaps misinformed.

I was simply curious if the 1m BTC that I'd heard about

It is a rumor.  Some people did some guessing.  Then they did some maths with their guesses.

If their guesses are correct, then they have computed that perhaps Satoshi has approximately 1 million bitcoins (give or take a few hundred thousand).

If their guesses are incorrect, then their computations are meaningless.

was instamined or if it was mined prior to announcement?

No.  Bitcoin did not have any mining prior to announcement.  Bitcoin did not have any instamine.

Obviously there wasn't a short term incentive to liquidate if all or even a majority of the coins still exist.

Nearly all bitcoins still exist.  Relatively few have been destroyed.  I think the total amount of destroyed bitcoins is less than 150 BTC.

Charlie Lee's exodus from LTC was surprising to me, and it showed that not everyone is committed to the same ideals as Satoshi.

Satoshi is probably dead.

[Last of the V8s]

This quote comes from the thread where figures like "1 million bitcoins!!!1" were first mooted and then thoroughly debunked.

So I can tell you with confidence that you mined very few blocks (e.g. 10 blocks)  during that time and you're not millonaire, or you are part of the Satoshi group, period.

Do I get to be Satoshi too? I was off by only a few days... https://i.imgur.com/w57rtbs.png

I know first-hand that there were several different people who mined before January 2010. It's kind of funny that history I've lived through is being questioned...

There were plenty of miners other than satoshi in those very early days.

If only the myth could be laid to rest.

[rickC137]

Satoshi is probably dead.

Agreed.  I've always thought him to be Hal Finney.

Anyway, appreciate the information.  I have zero doubt that I am misinformed about many things crypto-related and otherwise.

The search for truth continues...

PS- since you are an old timer, and you use your real name... have you had any negative (or positive) experiences as a result of being known here?  My default is to let people know who I am, but have been heavily warned against it.

[rickC137]

Satoshi is probably dead.

Agreed.  I've always thought him to be Hal Finney.

Anyway, appreciate the information.  I have zero doubt that I am misinformed about many things crypto-related and otherwise.

The search for truth continues...

PS- since you are an old timer, and you use your real name... have you had any negative (or positive) experiences as a result of being known here?  My default is to let people know who I am, but have been heavily warned against it.

Wow.  That thread is a treasure.  Thank you very much for linking to it.  I can't wait to read through it!!! 

[gentlemand]

I was simply curious if the 1m BTC that I'd heard about was instamined or if it was mined prior to announcement?  Obviously there wasn't a short term incentive to liquidate if all or even a majority of the coins still exist.

In these futuristic times it's easy to forget that Bitcoin was a nothing from nowhere when it launched.

I'd definitely recommend reading a copy of Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper. It gets boring later on, but it covers the very early days really well.

You get the sense that Satoshi would've been totally delighted if two or three other miners had joined in from minute one, let alone hundreds, but barely one single person gave a shit for months on end and there were periods where there were bursts of interest and then it went totally dead again.

He couldn't have attracted people to a dead network so it was down to him to keep it alive by mining solo for long periods hence the large number of coins he wound up with. For someone with his aims I'm sure he regarded every extra coin in his possession as a failure.

There was no premine. It was open to anyone from minute one. Hardly anyone but him cared.

That's one of the reasons why Bitcoin is so unique. A launch with that level of purity can never happen again.

[rickC137]

For someone with his aims I'm sure he regarded every extra coin in his possession as a failure.

My god.  Hallmark could not express a better sentiment.  The accuracy of this statement is only overshadowed by the inspiration it imbues.

[DannyHamilton]

PS- since you are an old timer, and you use your real name... have you had any negative (or positive) experiences as a result of being known here?

No significant positive or negative experiences.

[mattcode]

Nearly all bitcoins still exist.  Relatively few have been destroyed.  I think the total amount of destroyed bitcoins is less than 150 BTC.

What do you count as a destroyed Bitcoin? Just one that has been sent with an unspendable script?

The Counterparty proof-of-burn address has over 2130 Bitcoins in it, and I don't think anybody is going to be able to spend those any time soon.

[LoyceV]

Satoshi is probably dead.

Or in jail. I can think of a few reasons why someone would want him gone.

[whywefight]

Nearly all bitcoins still exist.  Relatively few have been destroyed.  I think the total amount of destroyed bitcoins is less than 150 BTC.

There are at least 2196BTC burnt: https://blockchain.info/address/1CounterpartyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXUWLpVr (Counterparty), https://blockchain.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa (Genesis), https://blockchain.info/address/1111111111111111111114oLvT2 (smallest possible Hash160) and https://blockchain.info/address/1QLbz7JHiBTspS962RLKV8GndWFwi5j6Qr (largest possible Hash160)

Most of the early mined coins are still sitting on the addresses they were sent to during mining. if i remember correct

[r1s2g3]

Good Information, I also used to think that Satoshi  exclusively mined 1M bitcoins for himself.
Can we compare lost bitcoin same as bitcoin burnt.