Time Travel or Quantum Leap – Where Does Bitcoin Meet Relativity?

Artwork showing a Bitcoin symbol being sucked into a gravity well. Image: NaturPhilosophieBlockchain Oddity

On 19 June 2018, a peculiar number emerged from the blockchain space.  The series of numbers and letters sent the cryptosphere into overdrive, sparking rampant talk of quantum computing breakthroughs, time travel, Satoshi’s return, and the esoteric meaning of Bitcoin. 

Block #528,249 was discovered with a blockhash starting with a highly improbable sequence of 18 consecutive zeros.  Amid wild speculation and conspiracy theories that this particular block was perhaps intentionally created, the cryptosphere is searching for answers…

 

Block #528249

The number: ‘00000000000000000021e800c1e8df51b22c1588e5a624bea17e9faa34b2dc4a’.

A screenshot of details of Block #528249 that can be found on the Blockchain website. Picture: NaturPhilosophie
Details about Block #528249 can be found on the blockchain.

The oddity?  On the face of it, there is nothing unusual about it.  The block measures just over 1MB.  It has almost 6,500 inputs, 1,047 outputs, and 125 Segwit transactions.

However, when the block is viewed in a blockchain explorer, something odd shows up when you hover the mouse cursor over the block hash.

The sartorial number 00000000000000000021e800 appears!

According to the rational majority, the appearance of so many zeros, followed by 21 (a number synonymous with Bitcoin’s total supply) is a fluke of statistics.  An inevitable, yet random, occurrence of the blockchain roulette wheel landing on red 18 times after half a million spins.

A mere coincidence.

Others believe the oddity is a near-impossible feat that signals intervention from another world – be it a celestial, extraterrestrial, future, or other dimensional one.

 

21 E 8

The ’21e8′ sequence following the zeros is also being interpreted by some as a reference to the Unified Field Theory.  The hitherto unattainable theory of everything that unifies all fundamental physics interactions into one elegant theory – the Holy Grail of Physics.

The E8 Theory or “Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything” attempts to describe all fundamental physical interactions.  E8 outlines the combined structure and dynamics of all gravitational and Standard Model particle fields, including fermions, as part of the E8 Lie algebra.

The physics pre-print paper stands as a possible Theory of Everything – an exceptionally simple unification of the Standard Model and Gravity.

 

Nakamoto was a Time Traveller…

A close-up photograph of a Japanese man presumed to be the original Satoshi Nakamoto.
Is this Satoshi Nakamoto – the crypto-currency creator-at-large? Image: BBC

At the least, crypto-gurus are feeling puzzled.  The rest of the crypto community has been losing its mind over this peculiar 18 consecutive zeros blockhash fuelling rumours that either someone (somewhere) created a powerful quantum Bitcoin miner…  Or a time traveller from the future did this.

As theories go, this seems pretty far-fetched, but there are those out there who believe Satoshi Nakamoto was a time traveller!

Some suggest that the double zeros play a particularly meaningful role as a homage to the genesis block, which was mined with two more zeros than what was necessary.  These theorists suggest that the block was an Easter egg placed by Satoshi Nakamoto to remind us of his presence.

Perhaps Satoshi is an AI, or a time traveller from the future.  Either possibility seems equally likely.

Others have uncovered the etymology behind Satoshi Nakamoto, which roughly translates to “Awoken by being at the source”, as further proof of his responsibility…