Independent blogger Andy Baio has revealed that the Bitcoin (BTC) whitepaper is hidden on every Apple MacBook computer running recent versions of the macOS software. Baio made the discovery while looking through folders on his MacBook, and he later tweeted about what he found.
“The file is found in every version of macOS from Mojave (10.14.0) to the current version, Ventura (13.3), but isn’t in High Sierra (10.13) or earlier.“
Satoshi Nakamoto, a name used to represent a person or group, released the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008. It describes the idea of decentralized digital money that regulates the production of new units and secures interactions using encryption.
The inclusion of the Bitcoin whitepaper on every MacBook computer is likely to be a result of Apple’s decision to include it as part of the standard documentation for the command line tools included with macOS. However, the fact that the whitepaper is hidden from view may indicate that Apple is not actively promoting it to users.
The cryptocurrency community has taken notice of Baio’s finding and is theorizing about the ramifications of having the document so easily accessible to millions of MacBook users. Others have pointed out that it might also draw unwanted attention from lawmakers and law enforcement agencies, while some have suggested that it might result in greater knowledge of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
