Hidden Bitcoin white paper found in macOS

In the macOS operating system from Apple, a hidden PDF document containing the white paper of the first cryptocurrency was discovered. This was reported by programmer Andy Baio in his блоге.

To open the file, you must type the following command in the Terminal application:

open /System/Library/Image\\ Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf

This document exists in all macOS versions from Mojave (10.14) 2018 to the current Ventura (13.3), but is absent in High Sierra (10.13) and earlier versions.

In the Image Capture utility, the Bitcoin data file is also used as a sample document for a device called Virtual Scanner II, which is either hidden by default or not installed for all users.

According to the blogger, Apple noticed the “strange document” almost a year ago and labeled it as a technical issue, but has not yet fixed it.

Bayo suggested that the PDF file may have been intended for testing system applications and simply forgotten to be removed.

In October 2022, Apple restricted the use of NFTs in apps that do not charge transaction fees.

Subsequently, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase disabled the ability to send non-fungible tokens in its Coinbase Wallet app on iOS.