Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
The Bitcoin whitepaper is 9 pages long and consists of an Abstract and 12 sections. While i have read many articles about Bitcoin (see references below), for the purposes of this post i refer to the whitepaper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” only:
Bitcoin Whitepaper: ABSTRACT –
Satoshi Nakamoto outlines:
The Problem:
There is no way of making peer-to-peer payments online that bypass financial institutions. Some solutions exist that utilise digital signatures, but these require a trusted third party to ensure that the digital value is not spent more than once (double spending)
The Solution:
A pure peer-to-peer network that hashes transactions, using cryptography, into a chain of hash-based proof-of-work records
The chain provides proof of the chronological sequence of transactions and the verification from “honest” nodes that collectively control the largest pool of CPU power