... using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. In his white paper, Nakamoto outlined the idea of decentralized electronic cash, independent of banks and governments. The emergence of Bitcoin was a response to the global financial crisis of 2008 and the resulting loss of trust in the traditional banking system. The first block of the network, the "genesis block" (block #0), contained an encrypted reference to a newspaper headline about the banking crisis, symbolizing the intent to create an alternative ...