The digital copy of the original Bitcoin white paper that has been hidden on Macintosh computers for more than five years is not part of Apple’s upcoming operating system update. Camel mentioned Tuesday.
The PDF’s late discovery went viral three weeks ago, and represents only the latest in a long line of Easter eggs that Apple (or more likely its employees) have planted over the past several decades. Millions of Apple users apparently didn’t notice it until 2020, when designer Joshua Dickens posted it on Twitter. Someone read his post Thread started At the Apple Support Forums in April 2021.
However, this didn’t get much attention until technologist Andy Baio took notice wrote about it Last month.
“Of all the documents in the world, why was the bitcoin white paper chosen? Is there a secret Bitcoin maxi working at Apple?” Bayou asked. “Maybe it was just a convenient, lightweight, multi-page PDF for testing purposes, never intended for end users to see.”
The discovery even prompted Craig Wright, who has long claimed to be the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, to suggest that Apple is violating his copyright. Wright had previously obtained a court order to force Bitcoin.org to remove a copy of the paper in 2021, but the site refused to comply.
According to those involved with the Apple Beta Software Program, the upcoming 13.4 release of MacOS Ventura does not contain the file, nor the other elements with which it was initially bundled—a test driver for a virtual scanner to allow developers to work with the operating system image capture module. It wasn’t intended for normal users to discover the files, and they are in hidden system files.
Along with the Bitcoin white paper, the PDF was an image of a sign on Treasure Island in San Francisco.
Baio later said that a source within Apple told him that the paper’s existence was offered as a business ticket to developers last year and assigned to the same person who initially put the white paper into the system. At the time, the ticket had not been worked on.
“They have indicated that it will likely be removed in future versions,” said Baio.
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