Jorge Stolfi has known Bitcoin since 2013, but he is still not convinced of the usefulness of cryptocurrency and decentralization. During yet another heated discussion on Twitter, the Unicamp professor claims that the “Bitcoin CEO” intervened in BTC monetary policy.
In the entry, Stolfi cites a bug that occurred in 2010 that allowed the creation of 184 billion bitcoins, even exceeding the maximum limit of 21 million units.
As a result, this “inflationary bug” could have killed Bitcoin, either because of the unreliability of the code or because of inflation itself. However, the bug was quickly fixed by developers.
The famous Bitcoin inflationary bug
On August 15, 2010, when Bitcoin was not even worth a penny, a dangerous flaw was discovered in the code. Basically, attackers were able to generate new coins on the network and one of them decided to be aggressive and created 184 billion BTC.
The bug was so big that Bitcoin developers had to act quickly. Names like Gavin Andresen, Jeff Garzik, and Satoshi Nakamoto presented solutions on the Bitcointalk forum, which were quickly adopted by anyone using Bitcoin software.
But 13 years later, Jorge Stolfi not only believes the decision was arbitrary, he also calls Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin’s CEO.
“In 2010, someone commented that the code would create billions of bitcoins if it received a certain type of transaction. And he did, and the system gladly accepted that transaction.”said the Unicamp professor. “It took CEO intervention and a 51% “benign” attack to remove those billions of BTC from the chain. This incident should tell you that bitcoins, even those 6.25 of the “planned” block reward, were created “out of thin air”.
>> It took CEO intervention and a 51% “benign” attack to remove those billions of BTC from the chain. That incident should tell you that bitcoins, even those 6.25 of the “intended” block reward, were created “out of thin air”.
— Jorge Stolfi (@JorgeStolfi) March 16, 2023
Also, as noted, Stolfi doesn’t see Bitcoin as a standalone commodity like gold just because it’s digital. In a previous paragraph, the Unicamp professor explains this idea better.
“In the same sense that every fiat currency is printed “out of thin air”. The new coins created by miners do not represent X ounces of gold in some treasure or any other concrete material.Stolfi concluded. “They are just abstract units whose value is recorded in a database.”
Unicamp professor knows Bitcoin since 2013
According to Bitcointalk data, Jorge Stolfi has known about Bitcoin since 2013, when the cryptocurrency was listed at US$542 after a sharp 53% drop in just three days.
Apparently, Stolfi only created his account to criticize this volatility.
“The price of a Bitcoin has dropped by 50% in 48 hours and is still fluctuating by 20% every few minutes”wrote Stolfi in 2013. “Bitcoin will never take a significant share of the trade if the price keeps changing like this.”
Already in his profile description, the Unicamp professor is also skeptical about Bitcoin’s long term.
“Only academic interest in bitcoin. I am neither an owner nor a trader, so very skeptical about long-term success.”
Over the past decade, major publicly traded companies have adopted Bitcoin as a store of value, and even banks around the world are offering the buy and sell, targeting customers looking to escape the inflation of their local currency. Moreover, even small countries have already adopted Bitcoin as legal tender in recent years.
Ultimately, Bitcoin is up 4,463% in value over 2013’s Stolfi since publication. If that doesn’t convince you of Bitcoin’s long-term potential, then perhaps no other argument will.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
