Sources · Mailing list archive
Where to Read the Debates That Shaped Bitcoin
It is easy to find the date a rule was adopted in Bitcoin’s history. It is harder to see how the conversation began and why other approaches did not make it.
EDITORIAL OVERVIEW · Prepared by the project editors from the sources listed below.
A guide to the correspondence
In late October, LearnBitcoin introduced an easy-to-use mirror of the public bitcoin-dev mailing list. It contains more than 24,000 messages dating back to 2011. Messages are organized into threads, long quotes can be collapsed, and readers can find material by year, topic, and BIP. Every message links to the original.
January 2015 is a good place to start. The index includes Pieter Wuille’s thread on strict signature encoding. The correspondence lets you read the discussion; BIP 66 shows the rule as ultimately specified, along with its status. These are different documents: a message records a participant’s position, while a specification describes a change.
The original message and its context
The mirror is a guide for readers, not a replacement for the original. Its creators warn that some older replies are grouped by subject line, which can lead to errors. If you find an important quote, open the original and read what the person was replying to. Sometimes the previous message changes the meaning of the entire phrase.
Sources and verification
Information checked November 5, 2026. LearnBitcoin is an independent mirror of public correspondence.
Unless stated otherwise, the text, conclusions, structure and editorial arrangement were created by the project editors. Facts, quotations and source materials remain attributable to their authors and rights holders.
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