What Satoshi Saw

Lyrics

It came on Halloween.
A paper ghost on a mailing list.
Nine pages.
No author.
Just a name.

Just an idea.
A peer-to-peer system for electronic cash.
The quiet hum of a server fan somewhere.
A solution to a problem nobody knew we had,
until the whole world broke.

Two months later.
January third, 2009.
A cold London morning.
You must have bought the paper.
The Times.
You must have held it, smelled the ink.
Felt the cheap paper.
Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.
And you typed it in.
A timestamp. A birth announcement.
A reason.

What did you see, Satoshi?
Looking out at the world that morning?
The old machine grinding to a halt.
Did you see the code unfurling in your mind?
A new branch of the story.
A clock that couldn't be turned back.
You lit the fuse,
and then you walked away from the light.

The first block. Block Zero.
Fifty coins that can never be spent.
A perfect offering at the head of the chain.
A million more that have never moved.
Sleeping giants in a digital vault.
You built the boat,
pushed it out into the water,
and watched it sail away without you.

December, 2010.
An email to Gavin.
I've moved on to other things.
Just like that.
A ghost gives up the ghost.
Leaves the key under the mat.
The engine running.

What did you see, Satoshi?
Looking out at the world that morning?
The old machine grinding to a halt.
Did you see the code unfurling in your mind?
A new branch of the story.
A clock that couldn't be turned back.
You lit the fuse,
and then you walked away from the light.

You left us the paper.
You left us the code.
You left us the question.
And the clock just keeps on ticking.
Block after block.
After block.