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Nikeeri's Code

Bitcoin's Beginnings

By Keith HutchisonPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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Nikeeri's Code
Photo by André François McKenzie on Unsplash

On the first day of autumn, Nikeeri was walking to school with her friend Janoosh through the busy streets of Tokyo when she stumbled across an interesting sight. There, on the side of the road, was a coin. It was a 1 Yen piece seeming stopped in it's tracks rolling down the street on the gutter. Frozen in time with it's owner nowhere to be found.

"Have you ever seen something like this?" Nikeeri asked.

"What? It's just a coin. Why don't you grab it so we can get a treat at school?"

It bothered her that money had become something that people would just let fall from their pockets and not worry about or have the ability to trace back to themselves. That 1 Yen was gone from that person for ever. For Nikeeri this was upsetting because her family was scraping by to pay for her schooling, clothes, and food.

As they stepped into school that morning, Nikeeri couldn't stop thinking about the coin. Running into the computer lab, she had an idea! What if she could create a currency that was fully digital and traceable. A way for money to belong to one person, and not lost unless intended. A currency that had no borders and could be used by people around the world.

As she got into her school's computer account she began typing away at her coding software. The basis for her code - Digital Currency with verifiable and traceable. As she began writing, between the 1's and 0's in her binary code, she came up with a name - Bitcoin. She remembered her professor telling her that a bit was the smallest value of data and was coded as either a 1 or a 0. The basis for Binary Code. The combination of Bit-coin seemed logical due to her intricate knowledge of coding with Binary.

After writing her first script of code, not realizing how much time had passed, her computer Professor, Mr. Nakamoto came in to find her typing away at her station.

"Hi Nikeeri! I don't remember you having my class this period. What are you up to?"

Quickly pressing save and logging off, she stood up and without speaking left the room. She knew that coding was meant for boys and she would be more suited at the home education room. But her passion for coding and her new idea, she had devised a plan to go back to the computer lab after school.

After the final bell had rung, Nikeeri found her brother leaving the school and asked him to tell their mother that she was going over to Janoosh's house to play after school. She hid in the gym locker room until the halls were empty and the teachers had all left.

Entering back into the computer lab she found her computer, opened her coding file, and began typing away at the code.

An hour later, she heard the door open. It was Mr. Nakamoto again.

"Nikeeri? School is over. What are you doing here?"

"Well all the teachers are gone, so what are YOU doing here?" she said, as the words came out before she could catch them.

By this time, Mr. Nakamoto was hovering over her deciphering the 1's and 0's streaming across the light and dark green screen.

"A bank? Are you trying to hack into a bank? Nikeeri, you cannot be doing illegal things like this! I'm going to call the police"

"WAIT! No, I'm creating a new type of bank. A digital bank! I promise I am not doing anything wrong, this is just a project I had thought of"

"Go on" he said, hand slowly placing the phone back on to its holder.

"It bothers me. It bothers me that the government has so much to say about our money. That money has lost its value and people's view of money has turned into trash that looms in the streets. I wanted to make a fully digital currency. One that can't lose it's value, or be lost out of your pockets."

"Nikeeri, what you speak of is not possible. The value of the Yen, Euro, Dollar, Peso, they're all indicative of how well a country's currency compares to other parts of the world. It's a statement of world power, and without that, there is no world order. Our yen has significant value to our culture too, and can't be lost."

"Mr. Nakamoto, can I ask you to guess how many Yen you think are floating around the streets of Hong Kong right now in the gutters, sewers, laundry mats, attics?"

"I'm not sure."

"Give me your best guess"

"21 Million"

"And you think that adds cultural value to China? How can a currency that sits in the lowest of places hold value that lasts?"

"You make a good point. So what are you creating?" he asked curiously.

"I'm making a currency. One who's value is held in the demand held for it, has limited supply, and can be traced."

"You would need to somehow verify their transactions though since hackers could easily steal the currency. Say by using complex mathematical equations run across several computers."

"I hadn't thought of that! Do you think you could help me code it?" she asked.

"Of course. But we can only work on this after school ok? No more skipping class. I will help you after school for 2 hours a day."

"Deal!"

And with that they began working side by side, adding more and more code to the complex series of 1's and 0's.

After 2 months of hard work, they had developed a full series of code that was ready for implementation. They found a software release site that worked with Binary and decided to input their code.

"Are you ready to submit? I'm thoroughly impressed with our work!" Mr. Nakamoto asked.

"I think so. But I can't let anyone know I wrote it."

"Why? This is an excellent piece of work!"

"Because I'm a woman. Women don't code. We work in the home, cook, clean, and raise children. Never work with computers!"

"I understand but then who can we put as the author?" he asked when looking at the submission form asking for author name.

"You! I will give you all the credit! Maybe then you can get out of teaching and do something you love!"

"I will not take all the credit. This was your project, I just helped"

"Well, my grandfather's name was Satoshi. He taught me to work hard, and go after my passion. What if we combined the names: Satoshi Nakamoto. Then no one could find us, and we could do this to improve the world in secret"

Without giving it second though, and wanting to honor his ancestor's names as well as her's, Mr. Nakamoto typed in the name and pressed submit.

"Thank you Mr. Nakamoto, I wouldn't have been able to do this without you!"

"You're welcome Nikeeri"

As he walked away from her computer, the sun was setting outside leaving a soft orange glow on the window. He pulled from his pocket a small box and handed it to her.

On the box, was written "Hard work pays off".

When she got home, Nikeeri opened the box to find a custom printed card that carried the code to access 1,000 Bitcoin. Along with a note that said "When this reaches it's potential, you will be rich! Go change the world!"

11 years passed, and Nikeeri was working hard in the factory sorting through rice beans when the news on the TV caught her eye.

"Bitcoin has reached 5 Million Yen!" the headline said.

Remembering the box she had stashed away, she ran home to find it. Dusty from the attic, she brushed it off to find the card still in tact and code still legible.

Pulling up her computer, she typed in the card to find 5 billion yen was sitting in a digital wallet ready for her to deposit into her bank account. Her life forever changed. All from the sight of a small coin, rolling down the street.

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