If you ask people where does Bitcoin or cryptocurrency come from? You will get many answers, and if they are right, they will likely be vague jabs at the truth. What many do not know is that Bitcoin was a creation born out the cypherpunk movement. Originated during the 70s but formed in the 90s, it fought the US government’s injustices surrounding digital freedom and pioneered modern rights to personal privacy.

While you can try to understand the cypherpunks through a google search…You may struggle to deeply understand the full picture unless you understand the context of the movement itself. You have to zoom out and think bigger. Who seeded the movement of the cypherpunks? Where did all the ideas come from?

Before Bitcoin is a series which aims to give you a historical perspective of cryptocurrency’s technology and philosophy. To do this, I will be writing a 4 or 5 part series focusing on cryptography, the underlying mechanism of all cryptocurrencies along with the philosophies of privacy formed over time. This will be explore through the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s where in each decade.

Overview of the series focus points: Part One — 70s: How cryptographic knowledge was democratised through the publication of public key cryptography. Part Two — 80s: The origins of decentralised services, anonymous communication networks and digital cash. Part Three — 90s: The origins of the cypherpunks. Part Four— 00s: The technologies born out of the cypherpunk movement during the 2000s. Part Five — Bitcoin: The original designs of bitcoin and early coin forks.

This series will be a long read. It won’t be your typical 300 word pamphlet-disgusied-as-a-medium-article written a marketer or the usual short punchy stuff you find. To understand anything, historical context is important and the time in doing so is an investment. This aims to provide just that.

Peter Yuan Pan • Before Bitcoin Pt.1— 70s “Public Key Saga”