- Bitcoin whitepaper has been found hidden inside every copy of MacOS shipped since 2017.
- MacOS versions Mojave to Ventura contain the Bitcoin whitepaper, but not High Sierra (10.13) or earlier.
Hidden within every copy of MacOS shipped since 2017 is a copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper, according to a discovery by a user named bernd178 on the MacOS Community Forum. This was recently re-discovered by blogger Andy Baio and published on his blog Waxy.
Breaking news: Apple has included a concealed version of the #Bitcoin whitepaper in all newly manufactured Mac devices.
Does this imply that Apple is managed by Bitcoin enthusiasts? 👀🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/USSGYz2ztg
— ETHNews (@ETHNews_com) April 6, 2023
Baio noted that you can open a copy of the whitepaper by entering specific commands into the terminal app. The whitepaper is stored in a function called Virtual Scanner II, which is not enabled by default. This finding has led to speculation on why the whitepaper was included in every copy of MacOS.
The Bitcoin whitepaper, authored by Satoshi Nakamoto, was first published in 2008 and is the foundation of the cryptocurrency that has sparked a revolution in finance and technology. It describes a decentralized digital currency that allows for peer-to-peer transactions without the need for intermediaries. Bitcoin has since grown in popularity and value, with a current market capitalization of over $1 trillion.
One theory as to why the whitepaper was included in MacOS is that it was an internal act of defiance by a coder working at Apple. Craig Wright, a controversial figure who has claimed to be the inventor of Bitcoin, has been attempting to copyright the whitepaper and has been suing – unsuccessfully – places that host it. By including the whitepaper in every copy of MacOS, the coder may have been making a statement against Wright’s attempts to control the document.
Another theory is that the whitepaper was included for testing purposes and was never meant to be seen by end users. The filename of the document is “simpledoc.pdf” and it’s only 184 KB, which suggests that it may have been included as a lightweight multipage PDF for testing purposes.
It’s also worth noting that the whitepaper is not included in older versions of MacOS such as High Sierra (10.13) or earlier. This means that it was likely included in MacOS after 2017, which is when the first version of MacOS with the Virtual Scanner II function was released.
It remains unclear why the Bitcoin whitepaper was included in every copy of MacOS shipped since 2017. However, this discovery has sparked renewed interest in the whitepaper and its significance to the world of cryptocurrency. It will be interesting to see if Apple takes note of this discovery and removes the whitepaper in future updates to MacOS.
Overall, the discovery of the hidden Bitcoin whitepaper in every copy of MacOS is a fascinating development in the ongoing evolution of cryptocurrency. It underscores the importance of the whitepaper as the foundation of Bitcoin and the revolutionary potential of decentralized digital currencies.