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According to a recent blog post by Andy Baio, a PDF file of Satoshi Nakamoto’s bitcoin whitepaper is reportedly concealed in every current macOS edition released since Mojave in 2018.
As Baio attempted to repair his printer, he accidentally found the file. He discovered that it existed in every macOS version, starting with Mojave (10.14.0) and going up to the most recent version, Ventura (13.3). It was not available in High Sierra (10.13) or prior versions.
Including the whitepaper in macOS has prompted speculation regarding the document’s relevance and inquiries about whether or not Apple employs a bitcoin maximalist. Nevertheless, Baio thinks it may have been a practical and lightweight multipage PDF for testing and that it was never intended for end consumers to see it.
Mac users may view the whitepaper by opening the Terminal and entering a specified command to get access to the document. They can also go to the System Library and look for the file in the Image Capture folder there instead.
The bitcoin whitepaper is an example document for a device in the Image Capture tool called the “Virtual Scanner II.” It is unclear why the whitepaper was selected nor why the Virtual Scanner II device is hidden or not installed for specific users.
In addition to the whitepaper, the VirtualScanner.app’s Resources folder contains another peculiar file with the name cover.jpg. This picture is a JPG with a resolution of 2,634 by 3,916 pixels, and it was shot on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay. Thomas Hawk, a photographer, has determined that this spot is the one that appears in a virtually similar photograph that he took in 2008.
Here's a mystery: why do I have an Image Capture device called Virtual Scanner II on my Mac? It shows a preview of a painted sign that for some reason closely resembles a photo by @thomashawk on 'clustershot'? But not exactly — the scanned version looks more weathered. pic.twitter.com/jPb5kx3NyS
— Josh D (@schwa23) November 28, 2020
The finding of the bitcoin whitepaper in macOS has generally sparked the community’s curiosity about cryptocurrencies and prompted doubts regarding its appearance. While it may not have been placed on purpose, the fact that it was there serves as a helpful reminder of the groundbreaking technology that bitcoin embodies.