An important Bitcoin document has been hidden in nearly every new MacBook for years
Published on Feb 11, 2026 at 2:02 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Feb 10, 2026 at 5:47 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
There’s a very important Bitcoin document that’s potentially been hidden in your Apple MacBook for years.
It’s a PDF copy of the original nine-page document that started the Bitcoin saga and, for a while, it was included in every new MacBook.
So if you have a MacBook that was either made or updated after 2018, you may have access to it.
And there’s a question everyone is asking.
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Here’s how you can check if this file is stored in your MacBook
The PDF file in question is the original nine-page document published by Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator(s) of Bitcoin.
In crypto jargon, that is known as a ‘white paper’ (sometimes written as one word, whitepaper) – basically just some sort of declaration of intent to explain what Bitcoin is for.
The PDF file is very long and very technical, but if you want to read it, here’s how you can do it.
First of all, you have to check whether your MacBook runs on a version of macOS developed and updated between 2018 and 2023.
That’s because Apple removed this Easter Egg in 2023.
If the answer’s yes, hit command + spacebar, type ‘terminal’, hit Enter, and then type the following: ‘open/System/Library/Image\Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf’.
If the file is present, it’ll open as a normal PDF file.
The one question everyone’s asking
The question everyone asked for years was why, but the truth is no one knows why this PDF was included, or why it’s been removed.
The Easter Egg was discovered by tech blogger Andy Baio in 2023 by pure accident, and it was removed shortly after.
Most people don’t use MacBooks like that.
The average user has probably never used the ‘terminal’ feature, so that probably explains why it took years to find it.
Having said that, even though no one knows why this happened, there’s a theory.
It is widely believed that an Apple employee who was also a Bitcoin enthusiast added the file (simply called ‘simplefile.pdf’) as a secret Easter Egg.
Then, when the whole thing went viral, Apple decided to remove it because, while harmless, this file was something they didn’t want or need in their devices.
After beginning his automotive writing career at DriveTribe, Alessandro has been with Supercar Blondie since the launch of the website in 2022. In fact, he penned the very first article published on supercarblondie.com. He’s covered subjects from cars to aircraft, watches, and luxury yachts - and even crypto. He can largely be found heading up the site’s new-supercar and SBX coverage and being the first to bring our readers the news that they’re hungry for.
