Is Apple secretly supporting Bitcoin, or did employees do it on their own? The Bitcoin community is asking this subject because independent blogger Andy Baio wrote in his blog that the Bitcoin whitepaper is hidden in all modern versions of macOS.
Baio says that the BTC whitepaper has been part of the software since version 10.14.0 and hasn’t been taken away since then. It has been in every version of macOS since Mojave (10.14.0) in September 2018, but not in High Sierra (10.13) or prior versions.
By chance, the blogger found the Bitcoin white paper. “While trying to fix my printer today, I discovered that a PDF copy of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin whitepaper,” Baio said, explaining that the file is used in the Image Capture utility as a sample document for a device called “Virtual Scanner II,” which is either hidden or not installed by default for all users.
If you know where to look, it’s easy to find the BTC white paper. Mac users merely have to type the following command into the terminal:
simpledoc.pdf should be opened in /System/Library/Image Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources.
The Bitcoin whitepaper will immediately open in preview mode if the user’s macOS version is 10.14 or higher. Baio pointed out that users who don’t know how to use the command line can use the Finder and navigate by clicking.
Select Macintosh HD, then go to SystemLibraryImage CaptureDevices. Control-click VirtualScanner.app and choose Show Package Contents. Then open the ContentsResources folder and look for simpledoc.pdf inside.
Why does the Bitcoin Whitepaper stay hidden on macOS?
Baio adds he doesn’t know why the BTC whitepaper was chosen out of all the other materials out there. “Is there a secret Bitcoin max working at Apple?” or was it even a directive from the very top? “There is practically nothing about it on the Internet,” the blogger says, adding:
The filename is “simpledoc.pdf” and it’s only 184 KB. Maybe it was just a convenient, lightweight multi page PDF for testing purposes, never meant to be seen by end users.
Baio got a tip from an employee who didn’t want to be named. The person said that the issue had been brought up internally approximately a year before. Notably, the same engineer who put the PDF there in the first place was told about the problem, but that person hasn’t done anything or said anything since then.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, said he liked Bitcoin in November 2021. When asked if he owned Bitcoin or Ethereum, the CEO of the second-most valuable company in the world said yes. He said that he had been investing in cryptocurrencies for “some time.”
He further stated that it makes sense to have a “diversified portfolio.” But he ruled out the possibility that Apple, like Tesla and MicroStrategy, will invest in Bitcoin in the future.
Content Source: bitcoinist.com
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