Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System
· paper · Computer science
Proposes a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that avoids trusted third parties. It addresses double-spending by timestamping transactions in a chain of proof-of-work, which is claimed to stay secure as long as honest nodes hold a majority of computing power.
Checked: PDF from bitcoin.org, fetched 4 Oct 2026. Page numbers are those of that PDF.
0 findings
None that passed a second check.
2 minor (typos and the like; most checked by the judge only)
Wording Section 11 describes the failure event as "reducing the gap by -1". This is a double negative: read literally, it means the gap grows. The intended meaning is that the honest lead changes by -1, or that the gap shrinks by 1.
- p. 6 Section 11 Calculations, second paragraph
reducing the gap by -1
Judge's note: I checked the crop of PDF page 6, Section 11, second paragraph. It reads "increasing its lead by +1, and the failure event is the attacker's chain being extended by one block, reducing the gap by -1." Combining "reducing" with "-1" is a sign redundancy that gives the opposite meaning if taken literally. The intended step of -1 in the honest lead is clear from context and from the Gambler's Ruin setup that follows, and the model is unaffected. So this is minor wording, either form could be what was meant, and it is not a substantive error.
Second check: another model agreed
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Typo Section 6 has a stray word: "The steady addition of a constant of amount of new coins" should read "a constant amount of new coins".
- p. 4 Section 6 Incentive, first paragraph
The steady addition of a constant of amount of new coins
Judge's note: I checked the crop of PDF page 4, Section 6, first paragraph. The typeset text reads "a constant of amount of new coins", so this is not an extraction artefact. The first "of" is extra. It is cosmetic and the fix is obvious.
Second check: none (judge only)