Bitcoin white paper through the eyes of three Latin American bitcoiners

Advertisement

On Oct. 31, the 14th anniversary of the publication of the Bitcoin White Paper, CryptoNews sought to find out what some Latin American bitcoiners think about this important document.

To that end, we spoke with three bitcoin specialists and enthusiasts who work in different sectors and are based in different countries in the region. Although, in turn, are connected by their interest in the first of the cryptocurrencies. We asked them what they thought about the paper published by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and his role in the current economic system.

Here is what Eloisa Cadenas from Mexico, Nelson Cardozo from Paraguay, and Nelson “Ishikawa” Garay from El Salvador had to say. White Paper Of Bitcoin.

Eloisa Cadenas: “part of the bitcoin community speaks twice.”

The first person consulted by CryptoNews was Eloisa Cadenas, currently a consultant and CEO of CryptoFintech, a company specializing in financial technology and cryptoassets.

In her view, part of the bitcoin community has been filled with a “double talk or fallacious discourse.” This is because at the beginning of all this, specialists like Andreas Antonopoulos were mainly talking about Bitcoin as a “mechanism to strengthen privacy and explained why it was a better alternative to the current system.”

However, Cadenas notes that currently involvement with bitcoin occurs in. more than 80 percent through centralized mechanisms or platforms.

This would be contrary to the main proposal in Nakamoto’s paper of. eliminate the need to rely on third parties altogether. to carry out a financial transaction, according to the Mexican specialist’s analysis.

“We even see governments and politicians using or creating discourse around bitcoin, and much of the community celebrates it,” which Cadenas believes is valid, since everyone should use bitcoin as they see fit.

However, he considers laughable the “double talk about decentralization combined with other types of interests that do not properly correspond to the principle of the Bitcoin White Paper.”

The latter term refers to the use of Bitcoin as a form of political proselytizing. and gaining followers on Twitter, which – in his opinion – is being carried out by several figures.

From my point of view, Bitcoin and therefore its white paper is one of the most important creations of the last decades. From its conception and ideology, it seems to me that it was very well thought out. Therefore, it seems to me that it could not have been more perfect.

Eloisa Cadenas.

Nelson Cardozo: “The validity of the white paper is unequivocal.”

A little further south on the continent, specifically in Paraguay, we wanted to know the opinion of Nelson Cardozo, a Bitcoin mining specialist and White Paper analyst.

“Indeed, after 14 years, the white paper is still an important reference document for anyone who wants to learn more about bitcoin or begin their intellectual journey with cryptocurrencies in general,” Cardozo said.

The Paraguayan specialist and academic pointed out that one of the things that can be learned from Satoshi in his messages in BitcoinTalk (the Bitcoin forum where he discussed his ideas) is that was written after his code was implemented.

“Usually, the most common thing in a white paper is to describe a possible solution to a given problem,” he said. Not so for Nakamoto.

I actually did it kind of backwards. I had to write all the code before I was convinced I could solve all the problems, and then I wrote the paper.

Satoshi Nakamoto.

For Cardozo, the validity of the document created by Nakamoto is “unequivocal and its evolution is constant.” He assures that the bitcoin that we have in the archive today and the one documented in the white paper are different.

“The mistake of many purists is precisely that they fail to appreciate how much has grown over all this time. At that time we were talking about block explorers, addressestools, tools for multi-sigMining pools, wallets and all these elements, which are now standard in the ecosystem, were not even in the document,” Cardozo explained.

The academic believes that the white paper, despite being a rigid document, has evolved a lot.

Cardozo also pointed out that little emphasis is placed on Nakamoto’s proposed solution to the problem of the double spending.

Many argue that bitcoin solves nothing, precisely because central authorities are charged with preventing double spending. Unlike centralized entities, bitcoin is resistant to counterfeiting.

Nelson Cardozo.

Nelson “Ishikawa” Garay: “Salvadorans don’t know the White Paper.”

El Salvador is a country that has been put in the spotlight after, in September 2021, officially adopted bitcoin as legal tender.

However, there is a high degree of ignorance about Bitcoin’s founding document. This is what Nelson “Ishikawa” Garay, a Bitcoin enthusiast and developer of Lightning network Salvadorean.

“The adoption of Bitcoin in El Salvador is not a natural response of understanding leading to use, but is the cause of an ‘imposition’ by the government. A fact that has many repercussions, mostly negative,” Garay commented.

From his point of view ideally, it should come down to Bitcoin because its benefits have been understood and assimilated. But the fact is that the average Salvadoran “still does not understand what Bitcoin is, let alone what it really means.”

The citizens of the Central American country also do not understand the value it offers them as individuals and the value it gives to humanity. “And this is something that is embodied in Nakamoto’s document,” the developer recalled.

Garay says that many Salvadorans also consider the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, as the creator of Bitcoin. Others even go so far as to claim that, if it were not for him, Bitcoin would not be known.

A Salvadoran does not understand the meaning of the word decentralization, does not understand the words Not your keys Not your coins. Proof of this is the fact that Bitcoin is associated with the state Chivo Wallet, because when you ask a store if they accept Bitcoin they will tell you they accept Chivo. This is because they are unable to distinguish between the two.

Nelson Garay.

Precisely this lack of knowledge is combated by Garay himself with Torogoz Dev, an educational initiative in which development, Bitcoin and Lightning programming are taught. As well as others through the nongovernmental organization (NGO) My First Bitcoin.

Teaching the White Paper, a necessary task in Latin America.

According to the testimonies of the three specialists consulted by CryptoNews, although the White Paper on Bitcoin was published 14 years ago, it is a work that still has not yet been discovered by many in Latin America.

Knowledge of the propositions of this article and the underlying philosophy of the Bitcoin network will help many to understand the financial freedom they can achieve those who own cryptocurrency. To achieve this goal, it is critical to place greater emphasis on Bitcoin white paper education, Cadenas, Cardozo and Garay conclude.