What is the title of the Bitcoin whitepaper published by Satoshi Nakamoto?

The title of Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin whitepaper is “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.”

Nakamoto circulated the paper on October 31, 2008, through a cryptography mailing list. It described a way to conduct online payments directly between participants without relying on a trusted financial intermediary. The proposal combined digital signatures, proof of work, timestamped blocks, and a peer-to-peer network into the system later known as Bitcoin.

The wording matters because several plausible-sounding alternatives describe Bitcoin generally but are not the paper's title. “A Decentralized Electronic Cash System” and “Bitcoin: A Digital Currency” are summaries, not canonical names. The phrase “peer-to-peer” points to the network design, while “electronic cash” reflects Nakamoto's goal of creating digitally transferable value with cash-like direct payments.

Bitcoin's software followed in January 2009, when Nakamoto released the first open-source implementation and mined the genesis block.