Author: OneKey

In 2009, Martti Malmi @marttimalmi, who was then a second-year undergraduate student at the Helsinki University of Technology, accidentally came across bitcoin.org. He sent an email to Satoshi Nakamoto saying, "I would like to help with Bitcoin, if there’s something I can do."

To be honest, this was quite a hasty job application email. But from then on, the gears of fate began to turn.

Martti Malmi became Satoshi Nakamoto's first collaborator and the person Satoshi Nakamoto trusted the most, and his life was changed by Bitcoin. There have always been legends in the crypto world about university students getting rich "All in," and Martti must be the originator of this legend.

Last month, he publicly released the email history with Satoshi Nakamoto (https://mmalmi.github.io/satoshi/), allowing us to review the magnificent history of Bitcoin from a different perspective. Here are some interesting findings from OneKey.

Bitcoin's early operation is very much like a startup

Just like most startups at the time, they registered the "bitcoin.org" domain and had extensive discussions about product features, UI (user interface), and the website.

Different from the entrepreneurial atmosphere at the time, the work was all done through email communication, and no one had met the boss, "Satoshi Nakamoto." Nowadays, remote work in the crypto industry has become popular, and major crypto companies such as Binance, Paradigm, and our OneKey have all adopted global collaboration to varying degrees.

This was the first remote task assigned by Satoshi Nakamoto to the university student Martti Malmi - FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Satoshi Nakamoto said that what the website needed most at the moment was some written content, and he "was not good at writing, but better at coding." The original translation: "You might consider setting up a website on SourceForge, there's nothing there yet. If you can prepare an FAQ, I can organize the content I've previously answered in emails and forums for you, which can help you get the information and inspiration you need."

Satoshi Nakamoto was obviously a good boss, seriously considering a young university student Martti's suggestions. Here, Satoshi Nakamoto was like a product manager, discussing the features of the Bitcoin core client, "minimize to tray" and "startup on boot." Like many computer programs at the time, everyone was vying for user usage, reducing "user churn rate." Of course, Bitcoin used this "trick" to encourage more people to run full nodes, making the early network more secure. The original translation:

"Next, I plan to add a feature that allows the Bitcoin program to start automatically on Windows and can be minimized to the system tray, which will significantly increase the number of online nodes.

Looking back, you did point out a crucial missing feature, which has the potential to greatly increase the number of nodes. Without automatic startup, it's hard for us to retain users after their initial trial. Just like the secret to the success of early file-sharing networks, running the program automatically and defaulting to hiding in the system tray is crucial. Although in our first version (v0.1.0), due to the lack of stability, introducing this feature seemed inappropriate. But now, as the program has become stable enough, this feature has become a must-add for our next version to ensure that users willing to try the new version have a better experience and are willing to continue using it."

As an "entrepreneur," Satoshi Nakamoto also couldn't help but complain to Martti about the internet startups that were "hot" even though they "didn't even have any code."

In the following email, Satoshi Nakamoto believed that SourceForge's functionality was no longer sufficient for the Bitcoin forum and needed to switch to a different forum service provider. At the same time, he complained, "I've seen some projects attract a lot of attention based solely on forum discussions and planning, even though they haven't started writing any code. Forum discussions provide a platform for exposure, attract new users, help solve support issues, and identify the most needed features. (So this forum is important)"

In terms of marketing in a startup, Satoshi Nakamoto was not entirely the extreme "geek." In this email, he mentioned that the official website's promotional point "anonymity" seemed a bit suspicious, and he thought that this point could be kept private among the insiders.

The original translation: "The word 'anonymity' sounds a bit suspicious. I think those who want to be anonymous can figure it out for themselves without us publicizing it. I made some changes to the bitcoin.org homepage. Updating the translation is not really urgent. I tend to continue editing and revising for some time, so if they want to update, it's better to wait."

In the end, Martti took on everything

In the email communication, Satoshi Nakamoto repeatedly expressed his reluctance to be the public face (although in the end, most people remember Satoshi Nakamoto). He encouraged Martti to use his real name and address. He asked Martti to use his own credit card/ID to set up servers and bank accounts.

If you were Martti, would you be scared and "run away"?

The original translation: "I received a $2000 donation request. But I need your mailing address to have it sent. Yes, he (the donor) wants to remain anonymous, so please also protect the privacy of the envelope's source."

In some of the Bitcoin's promotional points, Satoshi Nakamoto also had Martti speak on his behalf, while also reminding of some marketing risks. The original translation:

"On the SourceForge website, you can express many views that I can't say on my own website. However, bluntly stating 'consider Bitcoin as an investment' makes me feel a bit uneasy. This statement is quite risky, so you'd better remove this view. If users have this idea themselves, of course, it's okay, but we can't use it as a selling point to promote."

Assigning the interview task to the newcomer Martti doesn't seem inappropriate. The original translation: "A blogger wants to write an article about Bitcoin, but I currently don't have time to answer his questions. If I introduce him to you, would you be willing to answer his questions? This way, we might get a good link resource."

Boss Satoshi Nakamoto suddenly disappeared for a month, and Martti took on the forum operation. The original translation: "I've also been busy with other things for the past month and a half. I just started downloading my emails from early April. I've taken care of most things and should be back to working on Bitcoin soon. I'm glad to see that you handled some things while I was away. Congratulations on completing your first Bitcoin transaction!"

Recharge Martti's Faith

Satoshi Nakamoto also foresaw that if Bitcoin were to enter the mainstream, it would definitely consume a lot of energy. This might have been a "mind-blowing" viewpoint at the time: the banking system is more resource-intensive than PoW.

"If we eventually have to choose between economic freedom and resource conservation, it's really ironic.

Unfortunately, proof of work is the only solution I found that allows a peer-to-peer electronic cash system to work without a trusted third party. Even though I didn't intend it to be a way to initially distribute coins, proof of work is still crucial for coordinating the network and preventing double spending.

If it really starts to consume a lot of energy, I think such energy consumption is still less than the labor and resource consumption of the traditional banking activities it is meant to replace. Its cost will be much lower than bank fees, which amount to billions of dollars, used to pay for all the brick buildings, skyscrapers, and useless credit card promotional mail."

The Last Email

We all know that on December 12, 2010, Satoshi Nakamoto made his last post on the Bitcoin forum discussing DoS (Denial of Service) and then stopped forum activity. But this was not Satoshi Nakamoto's last email.

A month later, in an email from Satoshi Nakamoto to Gavin Andresen (cc'd to Martti), Satoshi Nakamoto once again confirmed that he did not want to be involved in any media public relations content or interviews. And here we can see that Satoshi Nakamoto was very concerned about Bitcoin growing too fast, leading to various demands for features, attack defense, etc., not being met. At the same time, they were concerned about the fervor of public opinion, as there were some unofficial Bitcoin advocates at the time who were overly hyping it, even claiming it would replace PayPal and even the euro. They hoped to emphasize more in the media that Bitcoin was a cutting-edge test and had not yet reached the level of large-scale application.

Another month later, this was the last email from Satoshi Nakamoto to Martti, arranging some administrator password matters, and then disappeared again. This farewell was in 2013, and it's highly likely that we won't see him again.

Satoshi Nakamoto's disappearance is full of legend, but in these emails, we see a more approachable side of Satoshi Nakamoto. It seems that the "god" is not so far away, as if he is right beside us, as if everyone is Satoshi Nakamoto.

Martti's story is not a mirage either. In the new wave of the bull market, how many more "university student" legends will we witness?

Related reading: Satoshi Nakamoto's partner Martti: China's crypto circle is somewhat isolated from the international

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