Satoshi’s initial assistant, Martti Malmi, demonstrated a commitment to Bitcoin at a time when few were willing to see value in an internet currency that lacked even an exchange rate.

A university student in May 2009, Malmi contributed most directly to Bitcoin.org and the Bitcoin Wiki, where he helped make the websites look more comprehensive and professional. (He was less kind to euros he used at the time, writing “Bitcoin.org” on any bills he encountered.) 

Malmi also added an early Austrian perspective to conversations around Bitcoin, dismissing complaints about gold as “old Keynesian arguments” and noting that the precious metal was “unmatched” by any paper money in the stability it offered over time.

In his entrepreneurial efforts, Malmi was less successful, his early bitcoin exchange service, BitcoinExchange.com, struggling to get off the ground in 2010. 

Yet, he’d arguably make his biggest mark evangelizing for Bitcoin, creating a Facebook page (“Say no to central banking — use Bitcoin, the revolutionary P2P currency!” it read) and leading the first major effort to get Bitcoin publicity.