Referreport
As a media brand, especially in the technology sector, you are rarely actively involved in a historic moment. Even more rarely are you the catalyst for that moment. But PCWorld, the US sister magazine of PC-WELT, unintentionally found itself in exactly that position and made computer history in 2010. That’s how it happened.
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The item has been engraved into a Satoshi exactly as it appeared on PCWorld.com in 2010, and only 2,100 will be available for purchase. Purchase a Satoshi from our limited collection, only available on the Gamma.io marketplace.
In 2010, YouTube was only five years old. Apple released the iPhone 4 that year. And in April 2010, the New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel published controversial US military documents that were published on Wikileaks, making that platform famous overnight. That was the technology landscape of 2010.
At that time, the virtual currency Bitcoin had only existed for a little over a year. The few people who knew about Bitcoin were mining BTC on their home PCs (which was still possible at the time), and the exchange rate for 1BTC was between $0.20 and $0.30.
Bitcoin controversies about environmental impact and skyrocketing GPU prices were virtually nonexistent back then. Instead, everything revolved around the mysterious, idealistic inventor (or entity) of Bitcoin named Satoshi Nakamoto, who developed the concept of a completely democratic digital currency that could not be controlled by anyone.
It was Bitcoin’s unique decentralized nature that inspired a PCWorld freelance writer to report that Wikileaks and Bitcoin could potentially work together.
With its growing reach, Wikileaks had tried to raise funds through donations, but many of the major payment systems like Paypal refused to work with it due to the controversial nature of the platform. But what if Bitcoin could become a viable Paypal alternative?
PCWorld writer Keir Thomas introduced this concept in a December 2010 article titled “Could the Wikileaks Scandal Lead to New Virtual Currency?” The article was entirely factual and never advocated for Wikileaks in any political sense. Nonetheless, the story caught the attention of Satoshi Nakamoto, who, one day after the story was published, with his last public comment responded in an online forum:
“It would have been nice to get this attention in a different context. WikiLeaks has stirred up a hornet’s nest, and the swarm is heading our way.”
bitcointalk.org
bitcointalk.org
bitcointalk.org
After this final public statement, Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever he is (or was), disappeared from the internet, leaving only Bitcoin as his legacy.
In the decade since, fueled by the roaring silence of its founder, Bitcoin has found both ardent supporters and bitter opponents. But one thing is clear: pretty much everyone who cares about technology has an opinion on Bitcoin and its blockchain fundamentals.
Just to be clear, it was never PCWorld’s intention to contribute to the disappearance of such an icon, and the fact that it happened at all is a little disturbing. But now it’s a part of computer history.
PROMOTION
Own a piece of this moment in Bitcoin history
The item has been engraved into a Satoshi exactly as it appeared on PCWorld.com in 2010, and only 2,100 will be available for purchase. Purchase a Satoshi from our limited collection, only available on the Gamma.io marketplace.
Source: German