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It has been almost 13 years since the Bitcoin white paper was released and author Satoshi Nakamoto, known in the real world as nChain Chief Scientist Dr. Craig S. Wright, is more active than ever in educating the public about his original vision for Bitcoin. After the Bitcoin community split twice—once in 2017 and another one in 2018—Bitcoin SV, with SV standing for Satoshi Vision, has finally restored the original Bitcoin design.
In line with his advocacy to correct misconceptions and clarify Bitcoin terms, the inventor of the first-ever digital money and engineering head of tokenization entity smart wallet at the Bayesian Group and Money Button founder Ryan X. Charles has launched the “Theory of Bitcoin” series that features enlightening conversations between the two.
Going back to the basics of Bitcoin means dissecting the Bitcoin white paper. And this is what the duo has done in a 10-episode special focusing on explaining Bitcoin terms and rectifying misconceptions about Bitcoin and blockchain technology. The first episode is jam-packed with information that will open your eyes to the beauty of the original Bitcoin.
One of the Bitcoin terms commonly misused is “digital signatures.” Because Bitcoin transactions are verified using digital signatures and personal information is not stored on the blockchain, people think Bitcoin is anonymous and untraceable, making it perfect for criminal activities such as money laundering. However, this is so far from the truth.
“Digital signatures require identity. It doesn’t need to be public, that’s what people misunderstand. You don’t need to publicly attest, you need to attest before you use any of these things—and only from that point forward…. You can’t have a signature without an identity. The meaning of the word doesn’t allow that,” Dr. Wright clarifies.
Dr. Wright further points out that cryptographic keys also use digital signatures, and that leads to an identity, whether partial or full. The identity being left out is like signing a contract as “nobody,” which is not valid and will not be recognized in any court of law.
“You don’t need to give away your full identity, you can remain pseudonymous. I’ve talked about this in the past. But you still have a legal identity. So, the law recognizes partial identity. It has in Britain for hundreds of years now. We have a thing like pseudonymous author payments. But notice when I say, “pseudonymous,” not “anonymous.” As an author using a pen name, you can still get paid for your copyright. And no one knows who you are,” Dr. Wright explains.
And the same goes for Bitcoin—it can be pseudonymous, but not anonymous. Although only a partial identity is provided, it can still be traced to a real-world person through sophisticated methods employed by authorities. And because all transactions are immutably and chronologically recorded on the blockchain with distributed copies on all the nodes within the network, it has become a treasure trove of information for law enforcement agencies.
To know more about blockchain technology and Bitcoin terms, subscribe to the Theory of Bitcoin YouTube channel here.
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