Digging into macOS code is an educational activity. If above all it allows us to better understand how the operating system of Apple's computers works, it is also an opportunity to make astonishing discoveries.
American blogger Andy Baio spent several days digging into the depths of our Macs' OS, looking for interesting information. In general, venturing into these lines of code allows you to learn more about upcoming technologies and products. The Apple brand “tests” pieces of code in macOS, without anyone noticing.
Bitcoin “Bible” discovered in macOS code
But the discovery made by this blogger exceeded all his expectations. Far from finding code for an iPad or even the Apple Car, he discovered the “whitepaper” for Bitcoin, the most famous and oldest of cryptocurrencies. The oldest digital currency is thus found as a whole at the heart of the Mac operating system, without anyone really knowing why.
Written by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008,this “white paper”presents the main founding principles of Bitcoin, explains how it works, but also its purpose. To find this document, you have to dig into the “Virtual Scanner II” software. However, not all devices seem to have the white paper at their heart.
Only models using OS versions between Mojave (10,14) andVentura(13.3) can find traces of this white paper in the operating system source code. To find out if your device has the Bitcoin white paper, simply ask it.
The easiest way is to open the “terminal” application on your Mac before entering the following command: “open /System/Library/Image Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf”
How did this document get there?
If nothing happens, then your computer does not have the white paper in its source code. Otherwise, the document will simply open as a PDF and it will be possible to view and move it. If Apple has not wished to speak for the moment on this subject, the presence of this white paper has been known internally for almost a year.
The apple brand would have become aware during the year 2022 of the presence of this document. The Cupertino company would then have decided to keep it, without again giving the slightest explanation. The most likely hypothesis to explain the arrival of such a document in the Mac operating system amounts to handing over the authorship of the action to an Apple developer.
This document was surely used as a test in a beta or working version of the software before being forgotten there. There was then no question of a user finding it and even less of a question for the world of new technologies to question the presence of this “whitepaper” at the heart of the operating system of the most popular computers on the planet.
