What's the genesis story of the 1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE address?

[nullama]

It's a very well known address, currently holding more than 13₿, that will never be spent as no one has the private keys to it.

I know it was created before October 2011 as some people stumbled upon it at that time. They explain the concept there, but no mention of who created the actual address.

I found a previous mention of the address in July 2011 where people were basically using it for burning bitcoins, but still, no mention of how or when it was created.

The earliest mention of it that I've found appeared on 24th of June 2011, but again, no explanation about who created it:

I just saw the address mentioned elsewhere

The first transaction to that address(for 0.01₿) happened on 21st of June 2011, just 3 days before the previous message.

There was a thread here asking about it in 2013, but again there's only the explanation of that type of address, and how you can make them, but no original source about who created this particular one.

On the Bitcoin wiki they simply use it as an example, but again, no source for it:

A common method is to send bitcoin to an address that was constructed and only made to pass validity checks, but for which no private key is actually known. An example of such an address is "1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE"

Even on research papers it's used without any source:

If there are reservations about collusion with miners or in the case of ”proof of stake” networks, then the funds can also be sent to a verifiable unspendable address such as 1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE.

It's probably related to people designing proof of burn, maybe an idea from Iain Stewart? I haven't found anything concrete about that particular address, everyone appears to just simply have seen it from somewhere else. Anyone knows where was this address posted originally?

[CryptoSh1va]

Nobody "created" this address, the string was found according to certain rules - base58 with the correct checksum.

If it meets the requirements, then the address can also exist in the blockchain.

You can try to "create" such an address for burning bitcoins yourself - http://gobittest.appspot.com/ProofOfBurn (without private keys, do not submit anything that is of value to you)

[o_e_l_e_o]

To expand on CryptoSh1va's answer, address like these always "exist", even if no one has sent coins to them. For example, all of the following are completely valid addresses which you can look up on a block explorer and which anyone could send coins to at any time they like:

1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber1aCWT3X
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber2XPa29j
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber3YsNZXw
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber4ZUCexC
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber5YwKGQx
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber6fVNcME
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber7cDQwNf
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber8UuAZr9
1BitcoinEaterAddressNumber9b7aUza

Therefore, although 1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE has always existed, whoever owns the address 17Q4LxxtRs1vVSGXXSf3iXTpe9erc5ngL4 which sent that first transaction to that address would be the person who first brought it to everyone else's attention and effectively "created" it, so to speak.

[nullama]

Yes, of course.

But someone wrote it somewhere, that specific address, and people started to use it to burn coins.

I know how you can create it, I'm just wondering who decided to write the specific words BitcoinEaterAddressDontSend and posted it somewhere. Was there any text alongside it explaining something?, what was the original intention of posting it, etc.

[o_e_l_e_o]

But someone wrote it somewhere, that specific address, and people started to use it to burn coins.

More likely, as I mentioned above, is that someone sent a transaction to it, and then someone else noticed that transaction after a few days and started talking about it.

[nullama]

But someone wrote it somewhere, that specific address, and people started to use it to burn coins.

More likely, as I mentioned above, is that someone sent a transaction to it, and then someone else noticed that transaction after a few days and started talking about it.

Yeah, I think you're right, that's probably the most reasonable explanation.

I was hoping there was some interesting message about it, but probably it was just the address name itself that conveyed the message to a curious observer of the latest transactions.