Did Satoshi Approve Altcoins? Zcash Founder Eli Ben-Sasson Points to 16-Year-Old Forum Evidence

Cover image via youtu.be Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available. Eli Ben-Sasson, Starknet founder and Zcash cofounder, sparked a fresh wave of discussion about the legacy of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The trigger was an archival screenshot from the Bitcoin Talk forum dating back 16 years, which partly confirms that early Bitcoin developers not only allowed but also welcomed the creation of alternative blockchains. Advertisement Back then, Hal Finney, the first recipient of Bitcoin, was actively discussing the BitDNS project, the future Namecoin, and proposed launching it as a Bitcoin fork, a separate blockchain whose coins could be purchased with BTC. Was Satoshi indeed open for alternatives to Bitcoin? The thesis that Satoshi backed altcoins, as Ben-Sasson says, can be built on several real historical facts. For example, Satoshi personally participated in the BitDNS discussion and opposed the idea of recording domain name data on Bitcoin’s main blockchain. HOT Stories XRP Now Available for DeFi on $4.2 Billion Coinbase Network, Shiba Inu (SHIB) Price up 18% in Short Sellers' Hunt, Bitcoin Stabilizes Above $69,000 Ahead of March 19 FOMC: Morning Crypto Report Billionaire Druckenmiller Claims Crypto Could Be New Reserve Currency Moreover, Satoshi once proposed a technology that would allow new projects to survive without losing security, enabling miners to mine Bitcoin and an alternative coin simultaneously. This suggests he sought network symbiosis rather than the elimination of competitors. Advertisement Finally, both Satoshi and Finney saw Bitcoin as a foundation on which other services could be built. The concept of buying tokens with BTC , mentioned by Finney, effectively laid the groundwork for the entire modern crypto economy. Not just him. Satoshi approved as well. https://t.co/4JZCjPGH1O?from=article-links — Eli Ben-Sasson | Starknet.io (@EliBenSasson) March 13, 2026 Today’s Bitcoin maximalists often claim that any coin other than BTC is either a mistake or a scam. However, Ben-Sasson argues that the ideology of the early years was different. Satoshi was a pragmatist, and if a task such as DNS required a different blockchain, then it had to be created. Advertisement So, in the early days of the crypto industry, forks were viewed as an expansion of the ecosystem rather than a threat to its dominance. You Might Also Like Fri, 03/13/2026 - 11:09 Bitcoin to Reach Gold’s Market Cap in 15 Years, Scaramucci Predicts; How Much Would BTC Cost Then? By Yuri Molchan #Bitcoin #Bitcoin News #Zcash