[Ads-l] Coinage of "Cryptocurrency"

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sat Feb 2 04:40:06 UTC 2019


Here is an instance of the precursor term "cryptographic currency" in
November 1992 from a mailing list archived at cryptoanarchy.wiki. The
term is in the subject line of the message.

http://mailing-list-archive.cryptoanarchy.wiki/archive/1992/11/6c56f2b0e362d6cdee1550ca4870df5db71244285d434fdb0f0943fc4199e247/

[Begin excerpt]
From: Eli Brandt <ebrandt at jarthur.Claremont.EDU>
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 13:37:40 PST
To: extropians at gnu.ai.mit.edu
Subject: a name for cryptographic currency
Message-ID: <9211112137.AA22079 at cygnus.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain

Nothing makes it big with a dodecasyllabic name.
How about "cryp"?   (Rhymes with "scrip"?)

The idea is for science-fiction writers to ditch these
central-intelligence "credits", and start naming currency
"1gAu L5 Consortium cryp" and the like.

   Eli   ebrandt at jarthur.claremont.edu
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 10:50 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "Cryptocurrency" is covered in the Fall 2014 installment of "Among the New
> Words" in American Speech 89(3), p. 357.
>
> http://bit.ly/ATNW89-3
>
> The earliest citation we give there is from the archived homepage of
> bitcoin.org from Jan. 6, 2010.
>
> 2010 (Jan 6) Bitcoin.org http://www.bitcoin.org/ (Internet Archive; head &
> text)
> Bitcoin P2P Cryptocurrency / Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network based
> anonymous
> digital currency. Peer-to-peer (P2P) means that there is no central
> authority
> to issue new money or keep track of transactions.
>
> Link to the archived page:
>
> https://web.archive.org/web/20100106082749/http://www.bitcoin.org/
>
> On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 8:14 PM Chris Waigl <chris at lascribe.net> wrote:
>
> > You'll probably want this New Yorker article from 2011, when clearly the
> > interest in both cryptocurrency and blockchain was ticking up. It has
> > pointers to earlier articles to check out.
> > https://cryptome.org/0005/bitcoin-who.pdf
> >
> > This bibliography has a 2010 article in Russian which appears to be using
> > the Russian verison of "cryptocurrency".
> >
> > https://blockchainlibrary.org/2017/10/most-cited-cryptocurrency-publications/
> >
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 3:11 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I would also be interested in information about the earliest use of the
> > > word "cryptocurrency."
> > >
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > > ________________________________
> > > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > > Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > > Sent: Friday, February 1, 2019 6:56 PM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: Coinage of "Blockchain"
> > >
> > > Can anyone help me to determine the earliest use of the term "blockchain"
> > > in its cryptocurrency meaning?
> > >
> > >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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