Bitcoin Core Developer: What Truly Made Bitcoin Successful Wasn't the Whitepaper On July 28, 2026, Bitcoin Core developer Jeff Garzik (@jgarzik) shared on the Bitcoin Treasuries podcast that Bitcoin's initial rise to prominence wasn't due to its whitepaper but rather the widespread exposure it gained from a Slashdot post in July 2010. Without real-world implementation, Bitcoin might have just been another whitepaper among many electronic cash or Hashcash-like concepts. What truly made the decisive difference was the source code that could run, be tested, and released into the real world. People first confirmed through actual use that Bitcoin worked, and only then did they read the whitepaper and recognize it as a work of genius. Source: Bitcoin Treasuries