LibraryCredit and stable value1998Design paperCorpus record
b-money
b-money. Wei Dai.
Participants broadcast contract offers. Money is created by solving a computational problem, and a collective bookkeeping system tracks balances. A second variant uses a subset of servers.
A reading of the public paper. Not a copy, not a benchmark, and not a claim about any later network.
Read it as the problem statement: joint bookkeeping without an issuer. Do not read it as a system you can implement line by line.
The five-minute read
The defect
A digital cash system that uses a central issuer can be switched off. Dai asked whether a group of untraceable pseudonyms could keep the books themselves.
The proposal
Participants broadcast contract offers. Money is created by solving a computational problem, and a collective bookkeeping system tracks balances. A second variant uses a subset of servers.
Creation of money is tied to computational cost.
The ledger is collective, not a bank's database.
The bound
This is a sketch, not a protocol with a proof.
One action, walked through
- Broadcast a signed update.
- The collective book-keepers apply it if the contract rules say so.
- Disputes are referred to the servers in the second variant, who must be replaced if they misbehave.
- What happens when two book-keepers disagree?
The argument, unpacked
What the paper is for
Read it as the problem statement: joint bookkeeping without an issuer. Do not read it as a system you can implement line by line.
What happened after
Bitcoin, and then every stake design, is a later answer to the agreement problem this note leaves open.
What has to be true
- This is a sketch, not a protocol with a proof.
- It is not Bitcoin, though Bitcoin cites the problem.
- It does not describe mining pools, difficulty adjustment, or script.
What happened after the paper
Bitcoin, and then every stake design, is a later answer to the agreement problem this note leaves open.
What to check before you use the idea
- Who updates the books?
- What happens when two book-keepers disagree?
- How is new money created?
Terms
- Collective bookkeeping
- A ledger held by the participants rather than an issuer.
- Contract
- A broadcast offer the note treats as the transaction.
The problem the paper names
A digital cash system that uses a central issuer can be switched off. Dai asked whether a group of untraceable pseudonyms could keep the books themselves.
What the design proposes
- Creation of money is tied to computational cost.
- The ledger is collective, not a bank's database.
- The sketch leaves the agreement protocol unspecified. That gap is the whole of the later consensus literature.
How the mechanism is specified
- Broadcast a signed update.
- The collective book-keepers apply it if the contract rules say so.
- Disputes are referred to the servers in the second variant, who must be replaced if they misbehave.
What this page does not treat as proven
- This is a sketch, not a protocol with a proof.
- It is not Bitcoin, though Bitcoin cites the problem.
- It does not describe mining pools, difficulty adjustment, or script.
Why a venture studio still reads it
Read it as the problem statement: joint bookkeeping without an issuer. Do not read it as a system you can implement line by line.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.