Lifted A.
Since 2017, Apple has been incorporating a hidden Bitcoin white paper in the operating system of its MacBooks. However, that is all about to stop as reports indicate that the tech giant will no longer add the Bitcoin white paper to its next gen of Macintosh systems.
The 9-page white paper, which was believed to be hidden in MacBooks as a joke among the computer’s developers, was discovered in April 2021. An individual going by bernd178 was the first to discover the paper, and the discovery was shared on the MacOS community forum.
Bernd178 spotted a feature called “Virtual Scanner II” inside the Image Capture Utility. The virtual scanners allow Apple developers to carry simulations on scanning and exporting files with the Image Capture function without the actual use of a scanner. The function was disabled by default, and the user probed into it.
They found a picture of a bay in San Franscisco and a PDF file of the Bitcoin white paper. Apple never revealed the purpose of the white paper in the OS of Apple MacBooks. Now, the hardware and software provider has let go of the white paper with the most recent model of MacOS Ventura Beta.
MacOS Ventura 13.4 beta 3 was released on April 25, and 9to5Mac noticed that the white paper was gone. The entire “Virtual Scanner II” feature has been scrapped from the beta.
There are speculations that this move to scrap the hidden white paper confirms that the document was never meant to be discovered. However, they went along with it then because the white paper did not contain any sensitive information.
Andy Baio speculates that the first host of the Bitcoin whitepaper was the 2018 MacOS Mojave. If you haven’t updated your Apple Macintosh to the latest beta update, you can check out the white paper. Simply run the following command in Terminal:
open /System/Library/Image\ Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf
Apple’s Negative Attitude About Crypto and NFTs
Apple has not been so welcoming to crypto and NFTs. In December last year, the tech giant halted the release of the Coinbase Wallet App. According to Coinbase, “Apple’s claim is that the gas fees required to send NFTs need to be paid through their in-app purchase system so that they can collect 30% of the gas fee.”.
Months later, Uniswap announced that Apple had not given it the green light to release a new self custodial wallet. However, on April 13, Uniswap stated that the wallet live for iOS users in selected countries. The situation shows the only positive movement of Apple about the crypto space.
In addition to blocking crypto wallet apps, we can mention the strict App Store rules about NFTs and cryptocurrencies. These examples show that the company does not love the virtual space clearly.
