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> Maybe it's a huge team, so there are multiple individual signatures and it's tough to track down heterogenous signatures. In this case I would expect that we

> Maybe it's a huge team, so there are multiple individual signatures and it's tough to track down heterogenous signatures. In this case I would expect that we see a multitude of code styles in the source code of the very first publicly released version of the Bitcoin client. But I think nobody has yet pointed this out. This to me at least implies that if there were multiple programmers involved, there was at least someone who "ironed over" the complete source code to make the code style much more homogenous. But under this hypothesis we would expect that the code was audited at least somewhat thoroughly. But in fact the first versions of the Bitcoin client were rather "put together hastily" and contained lots of bugs that were fixed afterwards. Look for example at the following comment: > https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/595a7bab23bc21049526229054ea1fff1a29c0bf/src/consensus/merkle.cpp#L9-L43 https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/595a7bab23bc21049526... So first versions of the Bitcoin client rather look to me like some solo person who can program, but at least whose job is not to program in C++ every day, put together an experiment (the Bitcoin client) hastily. Now let us assume that there was a huge team behind, but only 1-2 (at most 3) programmers with very similar code signatures. But of course the other team members also had things to do (to be worth their salary), like working out the math etc. But if it were a huge team that contains people of such special skills, why the hell did they hire such a bad programmer to implement it? In this sense I believe there is strong evidence to drop the "huge team hypothesis".

Erlangolem 9y ago
Has it ever been floated that it might have been the work of an intelligence agency, as a means to fund black bag operations? It seems unlikely, but possible.
- jstanley 9y ago
  Yes, it's also been floated that it's the work of a super-intelligent AI that needed a system of money that it could use without providing identification documents. The internet is a vast network where the individual components don't understand the whole, just like a brain is. How do we know the internet itself hasn't turned into a super-intelligent AI already?
  - Erlangolem 9y ago
    I’m sensing just a bit of sarcasm, and an implied, “no you paranoid noodlebrain.” Honestly, I don’t blame you, my head is actually full of noodles. Al dente, baby.
    - jstanley 9y ago
      Not sarcastic! I think your suggestion was quite reasonable, I was just offering another suggestion that I found interesting. Albeit a slightly-more implausible one :)
      - Erlangolem 9y ago
        Alright, glad to hear it, although I maintain that I’m still a noodlebrain. I’m guessing that you have, but you might enjoy Ghost In The Shell, which runs along a similar premise to what you’re talking about.
nickpsecurity 9y ago
"In this case I would expect that we see a multitude of code styles in the source code of the very first publicly released version of the Bitcoin client. " Would that be the case if they used software that enforced a common, coding style on the team? And on top of the team putting in at least a little effort to keep consistent? There's quite a bit of that software already used in big organizations, including defense sector.

Erlangolem 9y ago

Has it ever been floated that it might have been the work of an intelligence agency, as a means to fund black bag operations? It seems unlikely, but possible.

jstanley 9y ago
Yes, it's also been floated that it's the work of a super-intelligent AI that needed a system of money that it could use without providing identification documents. The internet is a vast network where the individual components don't understand the whole, just like a brain is. How do we know the internet itself hasn't turned into a super-intelligent AI already?
- Erlangolem 9y ago
  I’m sensing just a bit of sarcasm, and an implied, “no you paranoid noodlebrain.” Honestly, I don’t blame you, my head is actually full of noodles. Al dente, baby.
  - jstanley 9y ago
    Not sarcastic! I think your suggestion was quite reasonable, I was just offering another suggestion that I found interesting. Albeit a slightly-more implausible one :)
    - Erlangolem 9y ago
      Alright, glad to hear it, although I maintain that I’m still a noodlebrain. I’m guessing that you have, but you might enjoy Ghost In The Shell, which runs along a similar premise to what you’re talking about.

nickpsecurity 9y ago

"In this case I would expect that we see a multitude of code styles in the source code of the very first publicly released version of the Bitcoin client. " Would that be the case if they used software that enforced a common, coding style on the team? And on top of the team putting in at least a little effort to keep consistent? There's quite a bit of that software already used in big organizations, including defense sector.