Hidden Treasure: Every Modern Copy of macOS Contains a Copy of Bitcoin’s White Paper

On April 5, 2023, the independent blogger Andy Baio published a post on his Waxy Blog that explained every version of macOS from Mojave 10.14.0 to the current version hosts a copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s seminal Bitcoin white paper. Mac users can type a simple command in the terminal, and all nine pages describing Nakamoto’s invention will appear in a PDF version in the built-in image viewer, Preview.

While celebrating Satoshi Nakamoto’s alleged April 5th birthday, bitcoin supporters discovered that many Macintosh computers running the macOS operating system contain a complete version of the seminal Bitcoin white paper.

The initial discovery was revealed in a blog post called “The Bitcoin White Paper Is Hidden in Every Modern Copy of macOS” on Andy Baio’s Waxy Blog. The independent blogger found the hidden file while fixing his printer and confirmed his findings by consulting “over a dozen Mac-using friends to confirm.”

After typing the command in the terminal and using a Mac with macOS 10.15 or later, the Bitcoin PDF should open in Preview, according to Baio’s explanation. The blogger also provides instructions on how to access the file via the operating system’s library folder for those who are not familiar with the macOS terminal.

“Of all the documents in the world, why was the Bitcoin white paper chosen?” Baio asked in his blog post. Baio also discovered that the Bitcoin white paper had been previously found and written about in the Apple community discussions forum.

However, the news never made it to the bitcoin community over the last five years. After Baio published his blog post, the news went viral on social media. No one knows exactly why Apple has hidden the Bitcoin white paper in the operating system, but it has pleased the crypto community. Bitcoin.com News further verified that the white paper file was located on two Macs that our news desk tested.

What are your thoughts on Apple including a copy of the Bitcoin white paper in every modern copy of macOS? Do you think it was a deliberate move or just a coincidence? Let us know in the comments section below.