Top Picks from CoinGeek Conversations: Craig Wright

CoinGeek Conversations

For the final addition of Top Picks from CoinGeek Conversations past, it had to be Dr. Craig Wright. Who better than the candid inventor, aka Satoshi Nakamoto, to set the Bitcoin story straight?

Let’s start with his explanation of what Bitcoin is and why it is not a cryptocurrency. As Craig puts it: “Cryptography is secret writing. Bitcoin is the exact opposite of that. Bitcoin is basically a public ledger. So, it’s designed to be private, but it doesn’t actually encrypt things. You can encrypt data and store it in the blockchain; but the difference here is, Bitcoin itself is a set of digital signatures, it’s a chain of evidence and it’s everything that those other systems that aim for an anonymous transfer is not.”

Craig believes that Bitcoin will be widely used by world states, in time. But how do we get there? Craig lays out his idea of how governments will use Bitcoin technology to print traditional currencies.

The conversation also addresses Craig’s use of the term blockchain in the original white paper. Some have noted that the term did not appear at this crucial stage in the development of the Metanet. Craig answers, “If you look at the original code in the comments, ‘blockchain’ is used twice. Although it was block (space) chain”, noting how he used a space between the two words back then, as can be seen in much of his writing.

Another question that was asked regarding the early years: why was there no patent on the original Bitcoin? There appears to be a few reasons. “There’s no way to pseudonymously patent” says Craig, who goes on to note the high cost factor as well as another key reason “any software that is based on complex cryptographic algorithms: digital signatures, hashing… needs to be open source. People need to be able to find where the errors and vulnerabilities are.” Later on, in the interview, we learn how far his patent ambitions have come. Having filed several thousand already, Craig has a new goal: “by the time I finish I want to hit ten thousand.”

In looking at Craig’s colorful career, we get a glimpse of what might have guided the creation of Bitcoin. Laying out his own work motivations, Craig says, “it’s more about the world we want to live in. I don’t think it’s about altruism, I think we all have a duty and we all have to pay the cost of being in a world that we want to be honest and open.”

Towards the end of the conversation, Craig conveys the ultimate purpose of Bitcoin: “Bitcoin, with a stable protocol, takes away power…” he says, “money is all about power and this is one of the things Bitcoin has done. It has removed that power. It will remove that power globally.

This timeless interview between Dr. Craig Wright and CoinGeek’s Charles Miller originally took place in 2019. Charles will be kicking off the 4th season of CoinGeek Conversations, next week, speaking to those who are propelling Bitcoin into its future.