Bitcoin Whitepaper Found in macOS Since 2018

Independent blogger Andy Baio discovered that Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper, initially released in 2009, has been embedded within Apple’s macOS system since 2018. This revelation captured the attention of cryptocurrency enthusiasts, with many users verifying the inclusion of the Bitcoin whitepaper.

We also confirmed this discovery, locating the Bitcoin whitepaper within macOS 13.3 as a PDF document hidden in the Virtual Scanner II.

Andy Baio found that Apple first embedded the whitepaper in 2018, beginning with macOS 10.14.0 and continuing through to the latest macOS 13.3. macOS 10.14.0S was first introduced at WWDC 2018 and released as a stable version in September 2018.

Numerous cryptocurrency enthusiasts, particularly Bitcoin supporters, were enthralled by this news on Twitter, interpreting it as Apple’s endorsement of cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin.

Yet, a closer examination of Andy Baio’s blog post reveals that this may be a misunderstanding, as Apple seemingly used the PDF as a sample document for the scanner’s scanning function.

The document is located within the Image Capture utility and serves as a sample document for a scanning device called Virtual Scanner II. By default, this virtual scanner is hidden, so most users remain unaware of its presence.

Upon locating Virtual Scanner II and adjusting the media settings to “Document” and DPI to 72, the scanner displays a preview of the first page of the Bitcoin whitepaper.

If you’re on a Mac, open a Terminal and type the following command:

open /System/Library/Image\ Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf

If you’re on macOS 10.14 or later, the Bitcoin PDF should immediately open in Preview.