In a new update, it has been revealed that Apple has removed a test scanner app called Virtual Scanner II in the latest MacOS Ventura 13.4 beta. The tech giant secretly removed this feature from their MacOS after it was leaked that the company had intentionally been integrating the Bitcoin whitepaper in their MacOS products since 2018. The leakage happened on a blog when a developer discovered a Bitcoin whitepaper on their Apple computer. Since the news went viral with other people confirming the development, Apple has secretly removed this whitepaper in their new MacOS beta update.
Apple-focused news site 9to5Mac first reported the recent removal of the crypto whitepaper, saying, "9to5Mac has found that Apple has removed the Bitcoin whitepaper that was hidden in the system files. More specifically, the file was located in a folder within the Image Capture app along with other random assets, such as other PDF files and images."
The Bitcoin whitepaper was hidden in a test scanner app called Virtual Scanner, as revealed by technologist Andy Baio. The now-deleted test scanner had the pdf copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper as created by the pseudonymous Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto. Apparently, Apple had been inserting this same whitepaper in any of their computers since 2018.
Since the document was found, nobody really knows the reason why it came as the sample document for a test scanner app called Virtual Scanner. For many, it gave them speculations that Apple is a tech company that is secretly interested in Bitcoin and the crypto industry. For others, they regarded the Bitcoin whitepaper as "just a joke among Apple engineers." There are other speculations and conspiracy theories about the hidden Bitcoin whitepaper, but all of them remain to be confirmed.
Apple Intentionally Hid the Bitcoin Whitepaper
According to the Apple-focused news site 9to5Mac, they claim that the recent news about Apple confirms their claims that the tech giant intentionally hid the whitepaper from regular users. Considering where the whitepaper was hidden, it only seems to be true.
According to 9to5Mac, "This pretty much confirms our original theory that both the Bitcoin white paper and the internal tool were never meant to be found by regular users.'' The whitepaper was hidden in a secure location where only people like sensitive developers would notice.
Since the news has gone viral, the tech company didn't let that slide. In their latest MacOS beta update, they immediately removed the file from the test scanner app.
In another new development, Apple has also received good news as their case with Epic Games falls largely in their favor. Out of the ten claims, Apple was declared victorious in nine of them. Apparently, Epic Games was suing Apple for some of their policies they termed a violation of the law. They immediately filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple, but the game-producing firm lost the case.
In a new statement about the case, Apple said, "Today’s decision reaffirms Apple’s resounding victory in this case, with nine of ten claims having been decided in Apple’s favor. For the second time in two years, a federal court has ruled that Apple abides by antitrust laws at the state and federal levels. The App Store continues to promote competition, drive innovation, and expand opportunity, and we’re proud of its profound contributions to both users and developers around the world. We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling on the one remaining claim under state law and are considering further review."