Coming up with a good name is often one of the most difficult decisions one needs to make when launching a new service or business. Historical data on domain name purchases indicates that Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin (BTC), had an alternative naming option in mind that did not make it to the white paper.
Bitcoin.org, the original Bitcoin-related website domain, was created on August 18, 2008, under AnonymousSpeech, a service in Japan that allows users to purchase domain names anonymously. Domain purchases under AnonymousSpeech on similar timelines revealed the creation of Netcoin.org on August 17, 2008 – just a day before Bitcoin.org was created.
After further research, cryptocurrency maker Or Weinberger confirmed that there is absolutely no content on the Netcoin.org domain “unless it is later repurchased by someone else.”
The decision to stick with Bitcoin could be crucial to its success due to the fact that many members of the crypto community have highlighted their dislike of the Netcoin name, as one of them stated:
“That’s interesting. I’m glad they stuck with Bitcoin, it looks a lot better.”
This discovery helps Bitcoin distance itself from people who previously claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. The Netcoin.org domain was later deleted and re-registered with a subsidiary of Web.com in 2010.
Related: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Decision: Tracking Adoption A Year Later
Despite the mysteries behind the creation of Bitcoin, the asset continues to dominate the financial markets. BitPay confirms this notion as its data shows that Bitcoin is a major payment instrument despite significant price fluctuations.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Merrick Theobald, Vice President of Marketing at BitPay, stated that sales of Bitcoin-based payments on BitPay reached 52% in the first quarter of 2022.
