An unexpected discovery has been made within every modern version of the operating system for Apple’s Mac computers. The original whitepaper laying out the Bitcoin network, created by the anonymous inventor known as Satoshi Nakamoto, is seemingly hidden within macOS since Mojave in 2018.
Technologist Andy Baio recently revealed that a PDF of the Bitcoin whitepaper has shipped with every copy of macOS since 2018. While attempting to fix his printer, Baio noticed a device called “Virtual Scanner II” that he’d never seen before. Upon changing the media type from “Photo” to “Document,” Nakamoto’s whitepaper appeared.
Baio shared his findings in a blog post, stating that there is “virtually nothing about this online.” He also created a prompt in Terminal to help others access the whitepaper easily.
The file is found on every version of macOS from Mojave to the current Ventura, but isn’t in High Sierra or earlier. It’s currently unknown why Nakamoto’s whitepaper is shipped with modern versions of macOS, but Baio speculates in his post that it was “just a convenient, lightweight multipage PDF for testing purposes, never meant to be seen by end users.”
This discovery is significant for Bitcoin enthusiasts and researchers, as it sheds light on the early days of cryptocurrency and the inception of the Bitcoin network. Despite being nearly a decade old, the white paper remains relevant and essential reading for those interested in the future of digital currencies.
