# Gavin Andresen
# 2010-07-18 16:42:42
# https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=430.msg4017#msg4017

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Yes.  Whoever has the private key that can create that last signature can spend the coin@p{--} he or she (or them@p{--} eventually maybe as bitcoin clients add features) are the owner. @p{par}

The transaction history isn't exactly a "chain" @p{--} multiple coins can get combined as input to a transaction (they're all "spent"), and multiple coins can get produced from a transaction (they're all "unspent" until they're used as the input to another transaction), so it's a more complicated network (I think of a chain as one link followed by another in a straight line).  But it will all trace back to one or more 50 Bitcoin GENERATE transactions. @p{par}