Emails to the bitcoin-list mailing list at SourceForge (16 messages, from "Welcome" to "Bitcoin 0.3.19 is released")

Document text

Research, not advice. Part of the Bitcoin research archive (October 2026). Claims labelled unverified, contested or fringe are reported, not endorsed; statuses of bills and rules are as of the date checked. Government, court and patent records are public domain; the research notes are CC BY 4.0.

Satoshi Nakamoto — emails to the bitcoin-list (SourceForge), 2008–2010

Satoshi Nakamoto — emails to the bitcoin-list (SourceForge), 2008–2010

Compiled 2026-10-09 for ~/Projects/bitcoin (research, not advice).

Source: Satoshi Nakamoto Institute (SNI), data file emails.json
at commit c412eb84a1d97df9114a6bf4dea300820965c0a7 of github.com/NakamotoInstitute/nakamotoinstitute.org, retrieved 2026-10-09.
SNI's site and data are licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the messages themselves are Satoshi Nakamoto's own writing.

Contents: 16 messages by Satoshi Nakamoto from the bitcoin-list mailing list at SourceForge. Only Satoshi's own messages are included.
Replies by other people in the same threads are left out; text other people wrote that Satoshi quoted inside his own
message is kept as part of his message. Message text is reproduced as SNI publishes it; image tags are replaced by a
text placeholder so this file loads nothing from the internet. Dates are UTC as given by SNI.

Original archive: sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/ (links per message below).

Contents

#Date (UTC)Subject / threadOriginalSNI page

192008-12-10T17:00:23Z[bitcoin-list] WelcomeoriginalSNI

202009-01-11T22:32:18Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.2 now availableoriginalSNI

212009-01-12T20:20:47Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1 Alpha release notesoriginalSNI

222009-01-12T22:48:23Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.3originalSNI

232009-01-16T18:35:32ZRe: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1 releasedoriginalSNI

242009-01-25T16:45:25ZRe: [bitcoin-list] ProblemsoriginalSNI

252009-02-04T19:46:04Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.5 releasedoriginalSNI

262009-02-22T17:47:52ZRe: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.5 releasedoriginalSNI

272009-03-04T16:59:12ZRe: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.5 releasedoriginalSNI

282009-10-23T23:57:51ZRe: [bitcoin-list] Does Bitcoin Crash in Windows?originalSNI

292009-12-17T06:52:09Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.2 releasedoriginalSNI

302010-07-06T21:53:53Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.3 released!originalSNI

312010-07-30T06:02:38Z[bitcoin-list] Alert: upgrade to bitcoin 0.3.6originalSNI

322010-08-15T20:38:33Z[bitcoin-list] ALERT - we are investigating a problemoriginalSNI

332010-12-08T23:11:55Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.3.18 is releasedoriginalSNI

342010-12-13T16:12:09Z[bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.3.19 is releasedoriginalSNI

19. [bitcoin-list] Welcome

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2008-12-10T17:00:23Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21033408/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/19/

Welcome to the Bitcoin mailing list!

20. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.2 now available

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-01-11T22:32:18Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21303153/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/20/

Bitcoin v0.1.2 is now available for download.

See http://www.bitcoin.org for the download link.

All the problems I've been finding are in the code that
automatically finds and connects to other nodes, since I wasn't
able to test it in the wild until now.  There are many more ways
for connections to get screwed up on the real Internet.

Bugs fixed:
- Fixed various problems that were making it hard for new nodes to
see other nodes to connect to.
- If you're behind a firewall, it could only receive one
connection, and the second connection would constantly disconnect
and reconnect.

These problems are kind of screwing up the network and will get
worse as more users arrive, so please make sure to upgrade.

Satoshi Nakamoto

21. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1 Alpha release notes

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-01-12T20:20:47Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21312004/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/21/

Release notes for Bitcoin v0.1 Alpha

Bitcoin is a new electronic cash system that uses a peer-to-peer
network to prevent double-spending.  It's completely decentralized
with no server or central authority.

You can find screenshots and the download link at:
http://www.bitcoin.org

Windows only for now.  Open source C++ code is included.

- Unpack the files into a directory
- Run BITCOIN.EXE
- It automatically connects to other nodes

If you can keep a node running that accepts incoming connections,
you'll really be helping the network a lot.  Port 8333 on your
firewall needs to be open to receive incoming connections.

The software is still alpha and experimental.  There's no guarantee
the system's state won't have to be restarted at some point if it
becomes necessary, although I've done everything I can to build in
extensibility and versioning.

You can get coins by getting someone to send you some, or turn on
Options->Generate Coins to run a node and generate blocks.  I made
the proof-of-work difficulty ridiculously easy to start with, so
for a little while in the beginning a typical PC will be able to
generate coins in just a few hours.  It'll get a lot harder when
competition makes the automatic adjustment drive up the difficulty.
Generated coins must wait 120 blocks to mature before they can be
spent.

There are two ways to send money.  If the recipient is online, you
can enter their IP address and it will connect, get a new public
key and send the transaction with comments.  If the recipient is
not online, it is possible to send to their Bitcoin address, which
is a hash of their public key that they give you.  They'll receive
the transaction the next time they connect and get the block it's
in.  This method has the disadvantage that no comment information
is sent, and a bit of privacy may be lost if the address is used
multiple times, but it is a useful alternative if both users can't
be online at the same time or the recipient can't receive incoming
connections.

Total circulation will be 21,000,000 coins.  It'll be distributed
to network nodes when they make blocks, with the amount cut in half
every 4 years.

first 4 years: 10,500,000 coins
next 4 years: 5,250,000 coins
next 4 years: 2,625,000 coins
next 4 years: 1,312,500 coins
etc...

When that runs out, the system can support transaction fees if
needed.  It's based on open market competition, and there will
probably always be nodes willing to process transactions for free.

Satoshi Nakamoto

22. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.3

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-01-12T22:48:23Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21313152/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/22/

It looks like we're through with the worst of the Internet
connection issues.  0.1.3 fixed a problem where your node's
communications could go dead after a while.  The network is
running much more smoothly now with this version.

If you've successfully generated a block, you've seen it has a
maturation countdown before you can spend it.  Once it matures,
the Credit column will change from 0.00 to 50.00.  For a block to
be valid, it has to be broadcasted to the network and get into the
block chain, which is why Generate does not run if you're not
connected.  If you generated a block without being connected, the
network wouldn't know about it and would continue building the
chain without it, leaving it behind, and the maturation countdown
would change to "(not accepted)" when your node sees that it
wasn't used.  If you subtract 1 from the status column, that's how
many blocks have been chained after yours.

Satoshi Nakamoto

23. Re: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1 released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-01-16T18:35:32Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21356305/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/23/

> Dustin D. Trammell wrote:
> > Satoshi Nakamoto wrote:
> > You know, I think there were a lot more people interested in the 90's,
> > but after more than a decade of failed Trusted Third Party based systems
> > (Digicash, etc), they see it as a lost cause. I hope they can make the
> > distinction that this is the first time I know of that we're trying a
> > non-trust-based system.
>
> Yea, that was the primary feature that caught my eye. The real trick
> will be to get people to actually value the BitCoins so that they become
> currency.

I would be surprised if 10 years from now we're not using
electronic currency in some way, now that we know a way to do it
that won't inevitably get dumbed down when the trusted third party
gets cold feet.

It could get started in a narrow niche like reward points,
donation tokens, currency for a game or micropayments for adult
sites.  Initially it can be used in proof-of-work applications
for services that could almost be free but not quite.

It can already be used for pay-to-send e-mail.  The send dialog is
resizeable and you can enter as long of a message as you like.
It's sent directly when it connects.  The recipient doubleclicks
on the transaction to see the full message.  If someone famous is
getting more e-mail than they can read, but would still like to
have a way for fans to contact them, they could set up Bitcoin and
give out the IP address on their website.  "Send X bitcoins to my
priority hotline at this IP and I'll read the message personally."

Subscription sites that need some extra proof-of-work for their
free trial so it doesn't cannibalize subscriptions could charge
bitcoins for the trial.

It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on.  If
enough people think the same way, that becomes a self fulfilling
prophecy.  Once it gets bootstrapped, there are so many
applications if you could effortlessly pay a few cents to a
website as easily as dropping coins in a vending machine.

Satoshi Nakamoto
http://www.bitcoin.org

24. Re: [bitcoin-list] Problems

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-01-25T16:45:25Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21424626/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/24/

From: Nicholas Bohm 2009-01-25 10:17
> I have had a couple of problems running bitcoin: is this an appropriate
> list for reporting them (with about 70kb of attachments)?

What's the problem you're having?

If you send me your debug.log file directly (best not to send attachments
to the list), I can take a look at what's happening.

Satoshi Nakamoto
bitcoin-help at vistomail dot com

25. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.5 released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-02-04T19:46:04Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21500063/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/25/

Version 0.1.5 is now available.  It includes the fix for the problem
Nicholas had, checking for disk full and changes to try to improve
things that were confusing.

Special thanks to Nicholas and Dustin for all their help and feedback!

Download link:
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=244765&package_id=298441

Changes:
- disk full warning
- fixed a bug that could occur if dns lookup failed
- prevent entering your own address in the address book,
    which confusingly changed the label for your own address
- moved change address button to menu under options
- tweaks to make it get connected faster
- close sockets on exit
- created minimum fee for transactions less than 1 cent
- hid the transaction-type selection box that only had one choice
- cleaned up ParseMoney a little
- slightly cleaner reformatting of message text
- changed the font in transaction details dialog
- added some explanation text to transaction details for generated coins
- reworded the description for transactions received with bitcoin address

Satoshi Nakamoto
http://www.bitcoin.org

26. Re: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.5 released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-02-22T17:47:52Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21646307/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/26/

> What's next?

The next thing for v0.1.6 is to take advantage of multiple
processors to generate blocks.  Currently it only starts one
thread.  If you have a multi-core processor like a Core Duo or
Quad this will double or quadruple your production.

Later I want to add interfaces to make it really easy to integrate
into websites from any server side language.

Satoshi

http://www.bitcoin.org

27. Re: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1.5 released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-03-04T16:59:12Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21740046/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/27/

Hal Finney wrote:
> That sounds good. I'd also like to be able to run multiple coin/block
> generators on multiple machines, all behind a single NAT address. I
> haven't tried this yet so I don't know if it works on the current
> software.

The current version will work fine.  They'll each connect over the
Internet, while incoming connections only come to the host that
port 8333 is routed to.

As an optimisation, I'll make a switch "-connect=1.2.3.4" to make
it only connect to a specific address.  You could make your extra
nodes connect to your primary, and only the primary connects over
the Internet.  It doesn't really matter for now, since the network
would have to get huge before the bandwidth is anything more than
trivial.

> BTW I don't remember if we talked about this, but the other day some
> people were mentioning secure timestamping. You want to be able to
> prove that a certain document existed at a certain time in the past.
> Seems to me that bitcoin's stack of blocks would be perfect for this.

Indeed, Bitcoin is a distributed secure timestamp server for
transactions.  A few lines of code could create a transaction with
an extra hash in it of anything that needs to be timestamped.
I should add a command to timestamp a file that way.

> > > Later I want to add interfaces to make it really easy to integrate
> > > into websites from any server side language.
>
> Right, and I'd like to see more of a library interface that could be
> called from programming or scripting languages, on the client side as
> well.

Exactly.

Satoshi Nakamoto

http://www.bitcoin.org

28. Re: [bitcoin-list] Does Bitcoin Crash in Windows?

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-10-23T23:57:51Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/23824064/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/28/

Liberty Standard wrote:
>  Do you Windows users experience occasional Bitcoin crashes?
> Lately Bitcoin running in wine-1.0.1 has been crashing frequently. I was
> just wondering whether this is a Wine issue or a Bitcoin issue.

I haven't had any reports of crashes in v0.1.5.  It's been rock solid
for me on Windows.  I think it must be Wine related.  If you get another
crash in Wine and it prints anything on the terminal, e-mail me and I
may be able to figure out what happened, maybe something I can work
around.  Martti and I have been working on a new version to release soon
and it would be nice to get any Wine fixes in there.

> The following four lines print from the terminal when I start Bitcoin.
> fixme:toolhelp:CreateToolhelp32Snapshot Unimplemented: heap list snapshot
> fixme:toolhelp:Heap32ListFirst : stub
> fixme:toolhelp:CreateToolhelp32Snapshot Unimplemented: heap list snapshot
> fixme:toolhelp:Heap32ListFirst : stub

Those don't look like anything to worry about.  Probably functions
unimplemented by Wine that are harmlessly stubbed out.

> I previously wasn't starting Bitcoin from the terminal, so I don't know what
> gets printed out when it crashes, but I'll reply with the results the next
> time it crashes.
>
> While Bitcoin first downloads previously completed blocks, the file
> debug.log grows grows to 17.4 MB and then stops growing. I imagine it will
> continue to grow as more bitcoins are completed.

You can delete debug.log occasionally if you don't want to take the disk
space.  It's just status messages that help with debugging.

bitcoin.sourceforge.net looks fine now.  Maybe sourceforge was doing
some maintenance.

Satoshi

29. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.2 released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2009-12-17T06:52:09Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/24205662/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/29/

Bitcoin 0.2 is here!

Download (Windows, and now Linux version available)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/

New Features

Martti Malmi
  - Minimize to system tray option
  - Autostart on boot option so you can keep it running in the
background automatically
  - New options dialog layout for future expansion
  - Setup program for Windows
  - Linux version (tested on Ubuntu)
Satoshi Nakamoto
  - Multi-processor support for coin generation
  - Proxy support for use with TOR
  - Fixed some slowdowns in the initial block download

We also have a new forum at http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/

Many thanks to Martti (sirius-m) for all his development work, and to
New Liberty Standard for his help with testing the Linux version.

Satoshi Nakamoto

30. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.3 released!

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2010-07-06T21:53:53Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/25686730/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/30/

Announcing version 0.3 of Bitcoin, the P2P cryptocurrency!  Bitcoin is a
digital currency using cryptography and a distributed network to replace
the need for a trusted central server.  Escape the arbitrary inflation
risk of centrally managed currencies!  Bitcoin's total circulation is
limited to 21 million coins.  The coins are gradually released to the
network's nodes based on the CPU power they contribute, so you can get a
share of them by contributing your idle CPU time.

What's new:
- Command line and JSON-RPC control
- Includes a daemon version without GUI
- Transaction filter tabs
- 20% faster hashing
- Hashmeter performance display
- Mac OS X version (thanks to Laszlo)
- German, Dutch and Italian translations (thanks to DataWraith, Xunie
and Joozero)

Get it at http://www.bitcoin.org, and read the forum to find out more.

31. [bitcoin-list] Alert: upgrade to bitcoin 0.3.6

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2010-07-30T06:02:38Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/25843947/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/31/

Please upgrade to 0.3.6 ASAP to get an important bugfix.

See the bitcoin.org homepage for download links.

32. [bitcoin-list] ALERT - we are investigating a problem

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2010-08-15T20:38:33Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/25954806/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/32/

*** WARNING ***  We are investigating a problem.  DO NOT TRUST ANY
TRANSACTIONS THAT HAPPENED AFTER 15.08.2010 17:05 UTC (block 74638)
until the issue is resolved.

33. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.3.18 is released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2010-12-08T23:11:55Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/26722835/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/33/

Version 0.3.18 is now available.

Changes:
- Fixed a wallet.dat compatibility problem if you downgraded from 0.3.17
and then upgraded again
- IsStandard() check to only include known transaction types in blocks
- Jgarzik's optimisation to speed up the initial block download a little

The main addition in this release is the Accounts-based JSON-RPC
commands that Gavin's been working on (more details at
http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=1886.0).
- getaccountaddress
- sendfrom
- move
- getbalance
- listtransactions

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.3.18/

34. [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin 0.3.19 is released

From: Satoshi Nakamoto · Date: 2010-12-13T16:12:09Z (original header: )
Original archive: https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/26744510/
SNI: https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/34/

This is a minor release to add some DoS protection.

Changes:
- Added some DoS limits, though it's still far from DoS resistant.
- Removed "safe mode" alerts.

http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=2228.0

Download:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/bitcoin-0.3.19/