The Birth of Bitcoin

I rubbed my eyes after placing my glasses down beside my computer. This project for my finance class was driving me crazy. It was simple: Design a type of new currency, or redesign a current currency.

I needed a creative form of currency. Unfortunately, after I heard some of the other students vocalize and bounce their ideas off of each other, I was drawing a blank because to me all the good ideas were taken. Coins completely replacing paper money, paper money replacing coins, redesigning credit cards, making a universal currency for the world.

All great ideas, but in a world that is quickly growing in the invisible space that is the internet, coins and paper seemed ridiculous.

The door to my studio apartment I share with my girlfriend opened, revealing her beautiful smile which was directed at me. Before sashaying to me to give me a kiss, she puts down a few bags by the bar in our open floor plan.

“Hey there, handsome. How is the project going?” Her smile was soft as she sat down in the chair beside me at the dining room table.

I sighed, rubbing my eyes again. “Crappy. I can’t think of just the basis of the currency. Do I go with reinventing the current form, like coins or paper? Ways to make it harder to counterfeit them? Countries?” I groan. “I think my brain is either fried or completely broken.”

She smiles gently, probably my favorite smile of hers, and reaches out and squeezes my hand. “You’ll come up with the best idea, I’m confident for you at this moment. You’ll get an A. I’ll visualize it and put it out into the universe for you.”

I squeezed her hand back. “Thank you. You know I love you?”

“I do.” She stands, then leans down to take a peck to my lips after my head followed her to her standing position. “I’m going to get started on your birthday dinner.”

My mouth began to water at the meal my girlfriend has prepared for me the last ten years. We met when we were in seventh grade. It was love, for me, at first sight. She has stuck with me all through my college career, even my post grad education. I’ve had her ring hidden away for years, waiting for the perfect moment to propose but that moment hasn’t appeared.

“Chicken Alfredo?” I asked, already knowing her answer.

“Your favorite.” It wasn’t a question, there was no need to ask. “Plus, I’m making your favorite dessert. I made it today while you were in your lecture.”

“You are my angel.”

Her smile was brighter than the sun. “Hopefully my angelic qualities will help with your assignment.”

I smiled at her. “Feel like listening to me brain storm while you cook?

She walked to the fridge, grabbed me a beer, and sat it down beside my laptop. “Always.”

She went back to the fridge, pulling out all of the ingredients. While she was warming the skillet to cook the meat, I turned back to my laptop. “I was thinking about what could be innovative. Cards, coins, paper bills. Think of how a lot of stuff is going to be online, new stuff every day. The only thing that you can use to buy merchandise online is with a credit card which could be stolen if hacked. So why couldn’t we have a currency that is strictly for online buying and selling?”

Her head snaps up, an incredulous look on her face. “That’s it!”

Confusion marred my face, “What’s it?”

She came quickly around from the bar, and plopped down in my lap. “That’s your currency.”

I shook my head, not following her train of thought. “Please explain, I must be brain fried from this assignment.”

She rolled her eyes, yet snuggled closer to me. “Your currency. A currency that is invisible, can only be spent online, and is universal. Plus, can be highly protected via coding that secures the account.”

I sat and thought about it, all while she played with my hair. “So, kind of the ultimate internet currency.”

Not a question directed towards her, but she knew I was running all of the possibilities in my head. She kissed the top of my head as I began researching the concept.

*****

“Present time!” My girlfriend’s excitement was the only reason I was able to bring myself to the moment. My head wasn’t in my birthday celebration between the two of us. My head was in the project, that now grew to outside of the project. My head was examining the possibilities of making this into an actual thing. My girlfriend and I were computer programming students so if we made this online only currency a reality, we could easily be the ones to create it. There were other issues that we couldn’t manage right now, but we’ll get there.

Coming back out of the office, where she apparently hidden my present, happily set it down in front of me, before going to get our plates of Chicken Alfredo. Sitting down, she was almost vibrating with excitement. “Open your gift before we eat!”

I chuckled at her enthusiasm over my gift. I didn’t care at what she gave me, I’d value it no matter what, but her excitement over giving it to me was the true gift. If she just tossed a bag at me, I knew our relationship was off. But the happy little dance she has begun to do in her seat, showed me how much she loves me.

I pulled out a flat box that sounded like it contained books. I wiggled the smaller bottom shell off of the top and inside were coin collection books, filled with all the quarters from the state collection, each book containing the quarters from one of the four mint sites: Philadelphia, PA; Denver, CO; San Francisco, CA; West Point, NY.

“Baby, I can’t believe you were able to find all two hundred coins!” I began opening the four books. I had always been a coin collector, so with these nine year-long campaigns; this was super exciting to me.

Her smile was radiant. “Do you really like it?”

My smile should have given it away but I have no problem reinforcing my appreciation for my gift. “Honey, I couldn’t think of a better birthday present I’ve ever received. Thank you so much.”

She leaned over and kissed me before we dug into our dinner. My girlfriend’s cooking was always good, but her Chicken Alfredo was something I could eat every meal for the rest of my life. Once our bellies were full, she gathered our plates and took them back into the kitchen.

I got up out of my seat to handle the cleanup of our dishes and even though she tried to shew me out, our relationship was a partnership. She cooks, I clean. She laid her head on my shoulder before heading towards our bedroom.

My head filled with ideas for the currency project while cleaning the skillet that cooked the chicken. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that she came back in and sat a netted bag on the counter.

“What’s this?” I asked once my attention was officially caught.

She poked at the back, a sly smile on her face before opening it up and pulling out something that looked like a gold coin. She took my hand and laid it in my hand. “Just another part of your birthday gift.”

“You didn’t have to give me anything more.” I looked over the golden object. It was similar to the chocolate coins you get at holidays as a yummy treat. It had the golden foil that had a capital B imprinted on it. I flipped it over to the other side, wanting to save the interesting addition to my gift.

Peeling the foil back, my assumptions were correct, it was a chocolate coin. I carefully removed the wrapper, setting it aside to pop the chocolate into my mouth.

“Thank you, babe.” I started to pull one out of the bag for her but she stopped my movement.

“Look at the inside of the wrapper.”

Confusion marred my face but I did as request. The wrapper was a little wrinkled so I tried smoothing it out to see the text.

Daddy’s got a surprise birthday gift in eight months.

I looked up at her, then back down to the wrapper, then to her again. “Daddy?”

She smiled back, “Daddy.”

I dropped the foil and enveloped her in my arms then kissed her.

We’re going to be parents.

*****

Two Years Later

My daughter ran around the living room, chasing the dog we got her the moment our company took off. Same with a bigger home, so Tahina and I could grow our family. She followed Moko into the living room, carrying two cups of coffee. She sat down by me on the sofa, handing me the second coffee cup she carried in. “Thank you, beautiful.”

Her smile was sweet as she leaned in and kissed my cheek. “You’re very welcome. How does the contract look?”

I returned her smile only brighter. “We’re ready to sign everything over. We will remain anonymous and will receive a nice little yearly dividend to sustain us for the rest of our lives, even Moko’s great grandchildren have trust funds held for them. We can live the rest of our live comfortably.”

“And our identities will remain hidden?” A shadow of fear passed over her face.

I leaned down, putting my coffee on the table, then doing the same with hers. I kissed the side of her head and then pulled her closer to me, leaning back to relax. “We have it all set that our names will never be revealed. We could go buy a private island and live there and no one will know how we got the money to buy that money. There are multiple levels for protection protecting our identities. Satoshi Nakamoto is the owner and creator of Bitcoin, but no one will know it’s the mom, dad, and daughter who were the creators of this virtual currency.”

Her body relaxed, all while she giggled. “Moko didn’t do anything!”

I pulled her closer, snuggling to watch Moko play with her toys all while our Great Pyrenees watched over her loyally, letting her run a car over his back.

Two years ago, I was raking my brain on an assignment, trying to figure how to make a remake a currency. Now my expanding family was set for life. I never knew that my love for collecting coins, my now wife’s unique baby chocolate coin announcement, would change our life completely.

Bitcoin was a simple enough name; the chocolate coin made the logo for the company. An anagram, for Tahina, Tosas, and Moko, made up the name the company was created by; Satoshi Nakamoto. Who knew expanding your family could serve as the inspiration for a company that will forever change our lives?