Hidden Messages Found on the Bitcoin Blockchain
Bitcoin's mysterious creator, cryptographic principles that are difficult to understand, BTC’s past use by Silk Road users, it seems that Bitcoin’s nature is veiled in mysteries. And guess what?! Crypto enthusiasts have added an additional layer of secrecy: hidden messages on the Bitcoin blockchain.
What hidden messages can you uncover? Well, believe it or not, ranging from prayers to marriage proposals, the Bitcoin blockchain is filled with digital graffiti.
Since 2009, when the first block was created, miners and adepts turned to steganography - the practice of hiding texts or visuals in an ordinary file - and many have been concealing data on the blockchain.
As a result, the Bitcoin blockchain has become a massive repository of hidden messages, ranging from support for protocol improvements to newspaper headlines, obscenity, art, music, and cinema - even records of marriages, obituaries, and childbirth.
This cutting-edge transaction technology will undoubtedly offer historians a one-of-a-kind cultural artefact in the future. In fact, with countless copies of the blockchain in existence, the messages will indeed exist for a long time, and projects like the Doomsday Blockchain and Messages from the Mines are working to immortalise them.
So now look at some of the curious messages discovered on the Bitcoin blockchain:
The Genesis Block
Bitcoin's most popular message is retained in the base of its very first block.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the protocol's pseudonymous creator, added the following headline from the front page of The New York Times on January 3, 2009: "Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks."
The headline referred to the notorious British bank bailouts in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, which Nakamoto used to bring attention to the new peer-to-peer currency that he believed would one day replace our inefficient economic model.
The 2020 Bitcoin Halving
Perhaps you know that every four years, a halving event takes place, or when Bitcoin's mining incentives are reduced by half.
Mining incentives are cut in half according to predefined criteria in Bitcoin's code. As a result, the event has become a watershed moment for Bitcoin fans, many of which commemorate the anniversary with live countdown gatherings.
During the latest halving in May 2020, the miner F2Pool elected to pay respect to the origins of Bitcoin and then memorialise the new financial crisis in block 629,999. They included a New York Times headline from April 9, 2020, which wrote, "With $2.3T Injection, Fed's Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue."
Julian Assange's "We're fine" Message
With Julian Assange's case taking a tragic turn, we should mention an interesting message recorded on the blockchain. Did you know that a year ago, rumours circulated on the 8chan message board that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange had died? Wikileaks chose an unconventional answer due to fear that their Twitter account had been compromised.
The non-profit issued the following news using multiple Bitcoin addresses belonging to the organisation: "we're fine 8chan post fake." The transactions were detailed by a Steemit user named Khan.
It was not the first time Wikileaks has used the Bitcoin blockchain to send communications. According to researcher Ken Shiriff, they also sent a 2.5-megabyte file on "Cablegate," their infamous leak of US diplomatic cables in 2020, along with a message for Bitcoin's creator: "Free speech and free enterprise! Thank you, Satoshi!"
Tribute to Len Sassaman
Talking about significant figures, we should mention another hidden message worth remembering.
Fellow developers Dan Kaminsky and Travis Goodspeed placed a homage to cryptographer Len Sassaman on the Bitcoin network shortly after Len's passing.
"We dedicate this dumb hack to Len, who would have found it incredibly amusing," Bitcoin sceptics Kaminsky and Goodspeed wrote shortly after Sassaman's suicide in July 2011.
A Biblical Warning to Avoid the 'Mark of the Beast'
In the end, not all messages aim to spread vital information or commemorate people. Weirder messages are also common. For example, once the block 666,666 appeared in January 2020, a miner or user thought that additional security was required and inscribed a biblical message in the blockchain. The number 666, often known as the Mark of the Beast, is associated with the Antichrist or the Devil.
The message left on the block might be interpreted as a need for living for the good of others, being honest with oneself, and then defeating evil with good. This is also an endorsement of Bitcoin's core ethos: a fair, comprehensive financial system for everyone. If you also want to enter this fair and transparent world of Bitcoin, you can easily connect with a broker via a trading platform. The good news is that with apps like Bitcoin Profit you don't even need to be tech-savvy to get started.
Interestingly, this biblical message is not the first prayer left on the blockchain. A miner named Eligius is notorious for including Catholic prayers that spark controversy, as well as insults and rickrolls (the practice of having a disguised hyperlink that directs users to the 1987 music video "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley).
Oh well, many hidden messages can be found on the Bitcoin blockchain. What will the future crypto generation uncover is yet to be seen!
Image source: Pixabay