2024-02-29 18:19:33
Bitcoin early contributor Martti Malmi recently came into the limelight by sharing his emails with Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. But who is he really and how did he contribute to the history of Bitcoin?
Malmi’s contributions go far beyond mere email exchanges, as he was one of the first developers to work on Bitcoin’s code alongside the creator, who remains anonymous. The Finnish IT guru worked on Bitcoin between 2009 and 2011 alongside legends such as Hal Finney, Gavin Andresen and Laszlo Hanyecz, famous for Bitcoin Pizza Day.
Malmi’s achievements in the early years of Bitcoin
Malmi wrote almost the entire text of Bitcoin.org, the first leading cryptocurrency website, and was the only developer other than Satoshi Nakamoto to worked on version 0.2 of the Bitcoin Core software. He was also one of the first people to use ideological arguments to defend the separation of money and state on the anti-state.org site, and he also countered claims challenging Bitcoin’s intrinsic value.
In 2009, he was the first to execute a successful transaction with the asset when 5000 BTC was sold by BTC Price for $5. In addition to creating a website for Bitcoin In 2010, he created the first Bitcoin exchange also supported by Nakamoto and used his own 30,000 BTC to run the exchange. His achievements were instrumental in allowing others to join Bitcoin through the exchange.
According to an old tweet from 2020 Malmi bought an apartment in 2011 for 10,000 BTCwhen Bitcoin was trading at around $30, making its purchase one of the first major real-world uses of Bitcoin.
According to the records, Malmi over the years it has traded from about 55,000 BTC, mainly to help the ecosystem thrive. These BTCs would be worth over $3 billion today.
Malmi publicly stated that he invests most of his savings in Bitcoin, which he stated in 2020 as “not much”. He is currently the CEO of Sirius Business, a company focused on decentralized social media.
The Craig Wright case
Malmi is no longer directly involved in the development of Bitcoin, however recent developments have prompted him to discuss his collaboration with Nakamoto.
The computer scientist, Craig Wright has claimed in several court cases over the years to be the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, and is currently involved in a lawsuit against the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA). The organization is working to refute its claims.
In a 2019 case In passing, Wright claimed that Malmi was the creator of a dark web marketplace called Silk Road, despite the conviction of Ross Ulbricht for this act. Malmi has never been criminally charged in connection with the operation of the Silk Road marketplace and has denied the charges in court. In fact, he has joined COPA’s efforts to legally refute Wright’s claims: he recently testified at the trial and submitted his emails with Nakamoto as evidence.
His testimony revealed many details about the early days of Bitcoin and revealed several inconsistencies in Wright’s claims over the years.
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