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Summary
On this piece we study the historical past of the Bitcoin discussion board, which Satoshi launched in November 2009 and continues to be round right now. Particularly we give attention to numerous hacks which impacted the discussion board within the 2011 to 2015 interval. We additionally give attention to the discussion board’s funds, together with donations it acquired of over 6,000 BTC and the way these funds had been spent. In early Bitcoin historical past, the discussion board was a treasure trove of feedback and dialogue and a massively beneficial useful resource. The story described on this piece might be thought of considerably just like our article on the Bitcoin Foundation. In that the organisation was not capable of sufficiently increase and enhance the governance, controls, safety practices and execution at a adequate tempo to maintain up with Bitcoin’s fast rise. Nevertheless, all issues thought of the discussion board fared much better than the Bitcoin Basis and people concerned deserve not less than a level of reward.
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/forumimage1-1024x661.jpg)
Bitcoin Discussion board Origins
The bitcoin.org area title was registered on 18th August 2008, the Bitcoin whitepaper was revealed in October 2008 and the Bitcoin community famously launched on third January 2009. Along with the above, with the intention to promote Bitcoin and facilitate dialogue, a Bitcoin discussion board was required. So far as we will inform, the primary Bitcoin discussion board was created in November 2008, hosted on Sourceforge, the place the Bitcoin mission code was based mostly. The discussion board might have been generated robotically by Sourceforge on account of the Bitcoin mission. We have no idea for certain if this discussion board was considerably used as a venue to debate Bitcoin and the content material seems to have been nearly fully misplaced, other than one authentic publish saying “Welcome to Open Dialogue”. Nevertheless, it’s seemingly this authentic Bitcoin discussion board was used to some extent, as there was a niche of a yr till one other discussion board was launched.
The unique Bitcoin discussion board
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/forumimage2-1024x319.jpg)
On twenty second November 2009, Satoshi launched a brand new Bitcoin discussion board. This new discussion board was based mostly on the URL discussion board.bitcoin.org. The bitcoin.org area initially seems to have been owned by early Bitcoin developer Sirius (actual title Martti Malmi), earlier than being transferred over to “Cobra”. Cobra is a pseudonymous identification and the title stays lively within the Bitcoin area to this present day. Nevertheless, the precise nature of the transition in possession from Martti to Cobra just isn’t completely clear, and there might have been some interim partial homeowners earlier than the switch was full.
Sooner or later in 2011, the discussion board, full with all of the customers and posts, was transferred over to a brand new devoted area, Bitcointalk.org. This new area was registered on 24 June 2011. The area can also be owned by Cobra. “Theymos”, whose actual title is Michael Marquart, rapidly emerged because the lead administrator of the Bitcoin Discussion board. Theymos was additionally the lead administrator of the Bitcoin subreddit /r/bitcoin and the proprietor of the bitcoin.it area for the Bitcoin Wiki. Theymos additionally produced Bitcoin’s first block explorer web site, blockexplorer.com. Throughout The Blocksize War Theymos turned considerably controversial for his moderation coverage on a few of these boards, nonetheless this piece just isn’t about that. On this report we’ll cowl the 2011 to 2015 interval. On this ancient times, Bitcointalk was the dominant venue for dialogue on Bitcoin. One may very well be occupied for hours trawling by means of 1000’s of fascinating posts. It’s also price noting that Theymos was very young on the time. In Could 2013 Theymos talked about that he was 21 years previous, implying that he was solely 19 years previous in 2011, when he assumed the position of lead moderator of the discussion board.
Discussion board Hacks
The Bitcoin discussion board seems to have skilled a number of extreme hacks. Essentially the most vital hacks and information breaches are described beneath:
September 2011
The primary main hack seems to have taken place in September 2011. In accordance with Theymos, a hacker obtained administrative entry to the platform on third September 2011. Then on ninth September 2011, the hacker inserted some JavaScript to the web site, filling the web site with photos of American comic, actor, and media persona, Invoice Cosby.
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cosby-1024x444.jpg)
It’s attainable the hacker might have had full database entry and been capable of view personal messages and the hashes of consumer passwords. In response to this incident and to attempt to enhance safety, internet hosting was taken over by the CEO of the biggest Bitcoin trade on the time Mark Karpeles, CEO of MtGox. That is considerably ironic as a couple of months earlier, there was a serious safety incident at MtGox. In response to the discussion board hack, a couple of weeks after the Cosby incident, Theymos made a publish providing to pay some builders to enhance the discussion board software program. That is defined in additional element in a while on this report.
October 2013
In October 2013 the discussion board suffered one other main hack. This occurred a couple of hours after the FBI arrested Ross Ulbricht and shut down the darknet market the Silk Highway. Bitcointalk was down for round 4 days, from third October 2013 to seventh October 2013. The assault was carried out by a bunch calling themselves “The Gap Seekers” and there’s a YouTube video which reveals the results of the hack, full with a humorous tune about Bitcoin.
Now we have written up a number of the lyrics to the tune beneath:
Bitcoin hits new excessive! Earlier than dropping US$160 in worth at some point! Digital foreign money spikes at US$266, earlier than plunging to US$105, on Wednesday. In a wild trip, presumably linked to the Euro disaster. With Europe wrecked by financial uncertainty following the banking disaster in Cyprus. There have been fears {that a} bubble is being created with speculators piling into digital foreign money. There are round 11 million Bitcoins in circulation.
On the time, Theymos defined the vulnerability which resulted within the Gap Seekers hack as follows:
After the 2011 hack of the discussion board, the attacker inserted some backdoors. These had been eliminated by Mark Karpelles in his post-hack code audit, however a short while later, the attacker used the password hashes he obtained from the database with the intention to take management of an admin account and insert the backdoors again in.
As a result of the backdoors had been first planted in late 2011, the database may have been secretly accessed any time since then.
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=306878.msg3290091#msg3290091
Given the strain and uncertainty locally on the time over the Silk Highway shutdown and the intervention by the US authorities, some within the Bitcoin neighborhood blamed the hack on the US authorities. Though this can be an unlikely trigger and there’s no proof of this.
December 2013
In December 2013, the Bitcointalk web site seems to have been hacked once more. This time an attacker was capable of achieve management over the web site’s DNS setting and route the area to a brand new IP handle. On 2nd December 2013 Theymos defined the state of affairs as follows:
8-14 hours in the past, an attacker used a flaw within the discussion board’s AnonymousSpeech registrar to alter the discussion board’s DNS to level to 108.162.197.161 (actual particulars unknown). Sirius seen this 8 hours in the past and instantly transferred bitcointalk.org to a unique registrar. Nevertheless, such adjustments take about 24 hours to propagate. As a result of the HTTPS protocol is fairly horrible, this alone may have allowed the attacker to intercept and modify encrypted discussion board transmissions, permitting them to see passwords despatched throughout login, authentication cookies, PMs, and many others. Your password solely may have been intercepted in case you truly entered it whereas the discussion board was affected.
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=354365.msg3793661#msg3793661
Could 2015
In Could 2015 the discussion board was hacked but once more. This time the web site’s safety was breached, nonetheless the consumer expertise was not interrupted. Theymos described the hack as follows:
On Could 22 at 00:56 UTC, an attacker gained root entry to the discussion board’s server. He then proceeded to attempt to purchase a dump of the discussion board’s database earlier than I seen this at round 1:08 and shut down the server. In the interim, plainly he was capable of gather some or all the “members” desk. You need to assume that the next details about your account was leaked: – Electronic mail handle – Password hash (see beneath) – Final-used IP handle and registration IP handle – Secret query and a primary (not brute-force-resistant) hash of your secret reply – Numerous settings
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1067985.msg11445725#msg11445725
On account of the above hack, it seems as if a nefarious entity managed to pay money for the discussion board database and was seeking to promote it on a darknet market, for a value of 1 BTC.
BitcoinTalk’s database goes for 1 BTC ($614.67 USD). The file comprises 514,408 accounts, together with e-mail handle, private textual content quantity, date of beginning, username, gender, web site title, password and placement. The passwords are encrypted. There are 469,540 passwords encrypted with the SHA-256 algorithm, plus 44,868 passwords encrypted with the SMF password encryption.
Hacked Database Pattern Information
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/datahack-1024x663.jpg)
Discussion board Funds
Fundraising
The Bitcoin discussion board acquired donations from the neighborhood to assist run and handle the discussion board, in addition to to develop and enhance the discussion board’s code and safety. There have been a number of advantages for the donors, that are defined on the discussion board’s donation web page:
the overwhelming majority of earnings after bills is both saved for future bills or reinvested into the discussion board or the neighborhood. Way back, we collected donations. Individuals who donated 10 BTC have a particular “Donator” title and a inexperienced “who’s on-line” [colour]. Individuals who donated 50 BTC have a particular VIP standing and the flexibility to create a customized title for themselves. Each Donators and VIPs even have entry to an unique discussion board part. It could appear unimaginable now, however although there are various Donators and VIPs, the full donations collected by way of USD worth at time of donation is lower than $70 000!
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/donate.html
The discussion board’s donation web page lists 38 donors who gave not less than 50 BTC and 115 donors who gave not less than 10 BTC. Now we have calculated the implied minimal from these totals is 3,050 BTC. Though the discussion board had collected funds in extra of this.
Discussion board Funds
In round late 2013, Theymos disclosed the discussion board had Bitcoin reserves of round 6,800 BTC. Custody was shared amongst a number of people, with Theymos himself holding the overwhelming majority of the funds.
Bitcoin Discussion board Funds in round late 2013
Particular person | Quantity (BTC) | Bitcoin Deal with |
John Ok. | 0 | 1Kf1nT7jQnFC7N3tSdgg5qKGTV4MucfpBg |
paraipan | 250 | 1PFkqgBBrSKikyyUGDerZMfzvCNPgKrR3o |
Garr255 | 0 | 15HpBoo2DqaeJPW28ATzZMNnUTfqZQYA9H |
Ian Knowles (CIYAM Open) | 50 | 1BuANiueZAiNashSCfGV5Gmj9P8ReG1D8N |
Rassah | 750 | 1HQ8WaKVRYXLBtVdMcYr5SHQ3X9BsLyxa1 |
OgNasty | 500 | 1Eog8UqRFLufC71rBLt2nYgfUDskgxAyVF |
Ryland R. Taylor-Almanza | 250 | 17WmKCPdbu1GRUdPRJ1wNAMEr7F5HhnUU1 |
Theymos | 5,000 | 1M4yNbSCwSMFLF9BaLqzoo2to1WHtZrPke, et al. |
Whole | 6,800 |
Supply: https://web.archive.org/web/20140329004415/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=155000.0
One of many custodians, paraipan, might have died in 2014 and due to this fact the discussion board might have misplaced 250 BTC of funds. Immediately, as at Could 2023, the Bitcoin discussion board seems to have round 1,250 BTC of funds at two addresses:
Based mostly on the present spot Bitcoin value of US$27,000, this Bitcoin is price round US$34 million. So far as we will inform, this 1,250 BTC stability has remained just about unchanged since 2017. It’s because donations might have stopped and the worth of the discussion board’s earnings and bills could also be low in comparison with the worth of reserves.
After all the worth of the donations on the time they got was far decrease than this. A lot of the donations might have been given in direction of the top of 2011 and into 2012, after the value spike and crash in the summertime of 2011. Theymos has estimated that the worth of the funds after they had been supplied could also be as little as US$70,000, which appears cheap because the Bitcoin value in a lot of this era was round US$10.
In late 2017 Theymos commented on the rising worth of the discussion board’s reserves:
The increased-value reserve and large 2017 earnings (which can properly have been only a bizarre momentary development) got here fairly out of the blue. I’m undecided but how greatest to deal with it. I’ve been pondering of perhaps allocating a number of the cash towards making a registered non-profit which might have the same mission because the discussion board, however would focus extra on issues like free-speech authorized battles and the event of true decentralized discussion board software program. I additionally want to determine methods of delegating extra, since I’m completely swamped as issues are proper now. Maybe I may rent somebody with a enterprise diploma or one thing who can act extra like a correct CEO. Solutions publicly or by way of PM are welcome, however please focus extra on structural enhancements slightly than lists of issues to throw cash at. This has already been the case to a big extent, however particularly now, the limiting issue is generally time/folks/talent/belief slightly than cash.
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2659454
Discussion board Financials
The donations had been supplied by the Bitcoin neighborhood. Afterall a discussion board to debate Bitcoin was vital if Bitcoin had been to succeed. Theymos appeared to take his duty as discussion board administrator fairly severely and due to this fact he was eager to offer a excessive diploma of transparency with regard to the funds of the discussion board. Certainly, in a method in the end the discussion board belonged to the neighborhood and he was managing it on their behalf.
A key problem for Theymos and the discussion board was responding to the discussion board’s safety issues following the September 2011 hack talked about above. In November 2011, Theymos posted a young supply for builders to enhance the discussion board. This merchandise of expenditure, often called the “discussion board software program mission” was to be the biggest expenditure merchandise for the donated funds over the subsequent few years.
The discussion board’s software program has confirmed to be inadequate for our wants. Particularly, the final structure of the code is each insecure and tough to change, and the moderation amenities are restricted. Due to this fact, the discussion board is accepting bids for the job of delivering software program that meets the requirement. The discussion board has about
650 760 920 1120 1720 2267 30005500 BTC readily available at this second, however you’ll be able to bid greater than that. In case your bid is the very best, I’ll simply wait till the discussion board has collected the required sum of money.
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50617.0
Theymos did go to the trouble of manufacturing very primary abstract monetary data for the discussion board for annually from 2011 to 2018. Now we have supplied all this data within the beneath desk. It must be famous that the info excludes all positive aspects and losses associated to Bitcoin value actions, each realised and unrealised. That is fairly vital as these positive aspects and losses would have been way more vital than some other earnings or expenditure objects. It’s maybe comprehensible why the monetary disclosures are so restricted, on condition that Theymos was solely 19 years previous when he began this volunteer process in a semi-formal method and he solely acquired what was on the time a couple of thousand {dollars} in donations. Theymos was paid a price to be a discussion board moderator, nonetheless his position as discussion board adminstrator was unpaid. Nevertheless, the standard of disclosure, monetary reporting and governance could also be insufficient contemplating the worth of 6,800 BTC right now.
Bitcoin Discussion board Abstract Monetary
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/fianncialtable-1024x310.jpg)
Supply: Theymos discussion board posts, BitMEX Analysis
Observe: Excludes realised & unrealised positive aspects and losses from Bitcoin value actions
Now we have additionally supplied some primary monetary charts which present the massive deficits in 2014 and 2015, attributable to the spend on the “discussion board software program mission”. The whole spend on this software program mission over the complete interval ultimately reached US$2.7 million, nearly all of which occurred in 2014 and 2015, because the beneath charts illustrate.
Bitcoin Discussion board Abstract Monetary (US$)
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/pnlchart-1024x634.jpg)
Supply: Theymos discussion board posts, BitMEX Analysis
Observe: Excludes realised & unrealised positive aspects and losses from Bitcoin value actions
Bitcoin Discussion board New Software program Undertaking Spend (US$)
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/annualspend-1024x614.jpg)
Supply: Theymos discussion board posts, BitMEX Analysis
Bitcoin Discussion board Whole Bills (2011 to 2018 – US$)
![](https://blog.bitmex.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/piechart-1024x799.jpg)
Supply: Theymos discussion board posts, BitMEX Analysis
Sad Donors
In round 2013, a level of dissatisfaction was rising locally in regards to the state of the discussion board. There gave the impression to be no enchancment within the discussion board and the consumer interface seems to not have modified or improved. Certainly, to this present day the consumer interface seems nearly precisely the identical because it did in 2011. On the identical time safety didn’t seem to have improved both, with incidents nonetheless occuring. Due to this fact some locally had been dissatisfied, particularly given the donations supplied and that the worth of the donated funds had elevated considerably. On the finish of 2013 Theymos had barely spent any of the donated Bitcoin.
In June 2013 one discussion board consumer mentioned:
12 months in the past I donated 10 BTC to you to make a brand new discussion board. You could have since then collected over 6000 BTC and proceed to gather frequently, beneath the guise of “creating a brand new discussion board”, but you’ve but to create a brand new discussion board.
Supply: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=236325.0;all
On the time, 6,000 BTC was price round US$600,000. Many thought of this loads of cash to pay a developer to enhance the discussion board. Theymos defended himself as follows:
There may be sadly no magical machine which takes cash and creates wonderful software program or hires a crew of competent folks. I’m not fairly certain how greatest to show the cash into software program product. I initially supposed to offer somebody a bunch of cash and have them deal with the entire thing. I talked with dozens of individuals excited by doing this, however none of them made me completely assured. Some time in the past I made a decision that I’ll most likely by no means be assured in anybody individual/firm dealing with the complete mission as a result of I’ve thought of it for much longer than they’ve (2 years), and I’ve many particulars about the way it ought to work in my thoughts. So I most likely must get nearer to the event course of. My present plan is to write down some detailed up-to-date specs and do a number of the high-level architectural work (DB tables, primarily) after which lead a crew to do the remainder. I’ve slightly extra time now, however the discussion board software program mission is a considerably low precedence. I’ve a number of high-priority issues to repair with the present software program.
In response to a number of the above stress and frustration from customers, Theymos appeared to start spending the funds on builders in 2014 and 2015. As this spend occurred, in 2014, nearly US$100,000 monthly, others locally, fairly predictably, now complained in regards to the excessive degree of expenditure. Once more Theymos was lively and defended the spend:
If you happen to suppose that $100,000 monthly for 4 highly-skilled full-time builders is a totally ludicrous fee, you then don’t know something about this enterprise. It will be honest to argue that it’s a excessive fee, although I’m not even certain that that is true. You most likely stroll previous a dozen cheaper builders day by day, however their expertise/expertise can be very totally different, so it’s tough to check. The aim of this mission is to create discussion board software program that immediately competes with stuff like phpBB and SMF. It is a large mission that will probably be useful not just for bitcointalk.org or Bitcoin, however for the Net neighborhood as an entire. The expense is justified. Earlier than I began this mission, folks complained continuously in regards to the cash simply sitting round. Now persons are complaining that I’m spending an excessive amount of!? Make up your thoughts.
Theymos additionally pointed critics to the GitHub page as to the place the mission was labored was carried out. Jake Smith, who would shortly emerge as a distinguished “massive blocker” within the blocksize warfare and staunch critic of Theymos’ “censorship” of Bitcoin boards, them chimed in to the talk:
Okay, certain, if you’re hiring super-top-of-the-line poached from Google engineers. Let’s check out the crew of 4 who’re getting paid $25k A MONTH, EACH to “construct new discussion board software program” (that’s three years within the works, thoughts you.) Let’s check out Theymos’ proud A-Staff of coders: http://slickage.com/ Whoa, hey, what’s this? No contact data? No portfolio? One thing fishy is occurring. The one two hyperlinks on the webpage are to a github web page and a twitter profile. The twitter profile, curiously sufficient, solely has 46 followers. For these guys to be commanding $300k/yr salaries, they must be on the high of their discipline, proper? Wouldn’t that include extra uh, social standing and observable networking/references? Let’s check out the blokes behind Slickage. I discovered them by means of the github web page. https://www.linkedin.com/pub/anthony-kinsey/55/141/17a – This man’s solely credentials are a bachelor’s diploma and a advisor place at “eWorldES,” a Honolulu-based “enterprise options” agency that boasts such prestigious shoppers as The Honolulu Advertiser and Catholic Charities Honolulu. Keep in mind guys, this man will get paid $300k a yr. https://github.com/FFAxKenny This man, who’s at the moment incomes his bachelors diploma on the College of Hawaii at Manoa. His private web site makes no point out of Slickage anyplace. I’m certain he writes nice code for $300k a yr, however I ponder why one in all his hottest github repositories is of a Java implementation of the sport Hangman. Subsequent up, we’ve got “SomeoneWeird” https://github.com/SomeoneWeird He appears to have a bit extra expertise and extra followers on Twitter, however nonetheless, no point out of Slickage anyplace. The final man, “WangBus” https://github.com/wangbus truly does point out Slickage on his web page, however nothing stands out to me to point that this man is in some way a top-coder. Additionally lives in Manoa, Hawaii. Are we actually to imagine that these 4 not-particularly-remarkable guys of their early twenties, one not even out of school, and solely one of many 4 apparently even employed at “Slickage”, are every contributing sufficient to command a $300k/yr paycheck?
Supply: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2mcdb4/thermos_is_spending_100000_worth_of_his_donated/
Theymos then responded:
Slickage was really helpful by Warren Togami, who has himself achieved vital technical work for the discussion board and Bitcoin Core. I belief him. After speaking to James, I used to be glad that Slickage would be capable of do the job. There are lots of software program improvement corporations. I most likely may have discovered one which’s cheaper and higher. However I don’t have time to analysis this (I’m a full-time school pupil), I don’t actually know how one can decide whether or not one agency is best than one other anyway, and few reliable folks had been prepared and/or capable of assist me discover one. So I picked the primary agency I discovered that was able to doing the job properly (after a number of years of wanting). The primary elements that satisfied me that Slickage would be capable of do job had been: Once I talked with him, James satisfied me that he was very accustomed to all the related technical points. Like myself, James needs this software program to grow to be the premier discussion board software program on the Net. He needs to promote customized modifications and help for this software program sooner or later. Due to this fact, he has a powerful curiosity and incentive in creating one thing actually great and having it used very efficiently on bitcointalk.org. Slickage was really helpful by Warren, and Warren is in Hawaii and capable of immediately supervise them to a point.
From the US$100,000 month-to-month spend in 2014 and 2015 and the value of Bitcoin at round US$200 to US$300 within the interval, it’s simple to see the place the majority of 6,000 BTC reserves ended up. This contract with Slickage drained the discussion board’s reserves to across the 1,250 BTC degree it’s right now.
It doesn’t seem as if Theymos was dishonest or misappropriated the discussion board’s funds. As Theymos seems to truthfully and brazenly admit within the above remark, this software program spend may not have been as efficient because it may have been. Theymos was nonetheless in school on the time and didn’t have expertise in hiring costly software program builders. That is one thing even seasoned professionals fail to successfully do, particularly within the cryptocurrency business. On the identical time, constructing new discussion board software program like this was very bold and dangerous, it was all the time fairly unlikely to succeed. So far as we will inform, the work Slickage carried out didn’t materially enhance any facet of the Bitcoin discussion board. It doesn’t seem as if the discussion board’s funds had been misappropriated or misplaced, it’s simply that the execution on the software program mission was not as sturdy because it may have been.
Conclusion
The story described on this piece might be thought of considerably just like that of the Bitcoin Foundation. In that the organisation was a core pillar of the neighborhood, acquired donations in Bitcoin and because the worth of the cash quickly appreciated and the area grew, the governance and controls in place had been insufficient given the worth concerned. However, the Bitcoin discussion board does seem to have been managed much better than many different organisations within the area, which frequently concerned dishonesty and resulted in scandalous failures.
The primary on-line venue for discussing Bitcoin seems to have shifted over time. From the Bitcoin discussion board from 2010 to 2013, the subreddit from 2013 to 2017 after which lastly onto Twitter. Nevertheless, regardless of all of the hiccups talked about on this piece, the Bitcoin discussion board continues to be round and considerably well-liked to this present day. The discussion board continues to be vastly rich, by way of Bitcoin reserves. It’s fairly outstanding that it survived the way in which it has regardless of the turbulence of working on this area and the challenges of holding and managing funds. Regardless of his lack of expertise and controversial status, however no matter your view is on the blocksize warfare associated moderation, Theymos seems to have achieved a considerably cheap job together with his stewardship of the discussion board.
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