PT-BR Whitepaper Translation — 12 verified errors found

I reviewed the Brazilian Portuguese translation of the Bitcoin whitepaper (files/bitcoin-paper/bitcoin_pt_br.pdf) against the original English version (bitcoin.pdf) and found 12 objectively verifiable errors, including typos, mistranslations that alter meaning, and orthographic issues under current Brazilian Portuguese rules.

All items below are demonstrable — no style preferences or subjective points are included.

Category 1 — Typos and spelling errors (6 items)

1.1 Section 2 diagram: "Clave púbica Dono 3" should be "Chave pública do Dono 3"

• "Clave" is Spanish, not Portuguese. "Púbica" is a typo for "pública". The same field correctly reads "Chave pública" for Owner 1 and Owner 2 in the same diagram.

1.2 Section 7 diagram (Merkle Tree): "Bloque" appears alongside the correct "Bloco"

• "Bloque" is Spanish. Should be "Bloco".

1.3 Abstract: "prova da seqüência de eventos" → should be "sequência"

• The diaeresis (trema) was abolished by the 2009 Brazilian Orthographic Agreement (Decreto 6.583/2008, Base XIV).

1.4 Section 4: "blocos subseqüentes" → should be "subsequentes" (same rule)

1.5 Section 8: "pagamentos freqüentes" → should be "frequentes" (same rule)

1.6 Section 9: "as transações contem" → should be "contêm"

• Third person plural of "conter" requires a circumflex accent in Brazilian Portuguese.

Category 2 — Mistranslations that alter meaning (3 items)

2.1 Section 2 (multiple occurrences): "payee" translated as "sacador"

• In Brazilian commercial law (Lei Uniforme de Genebra, Decreto 57.663/1966), "sacador" is the person who issues a payment order (equivalent to "drawer"/"payer"), not the one who receives it. The English "payee" means the beneficiary — the receiver of payment.
• Reference: Fábio Ulhoa Coelho, Curso de Direito Comercial: "O sacador da letra de câmbio é a pessoa que dá a ordem de pagamento; (...) o tomador, o beneficiário da ordem."
• Suggested correction: "beneficiário" or "recebedor"
• This error appears at least 4 times throughout Section 2.

2.2 Section 1: "in person" translated as "ao vivo"

• Original: "These costs and payment uncertainties can be avoided in person by using physical currency"
• Translation: "podem ser evitados ao vivo usando moeda física"
• In Brazilian Portuguese, "ao vivo" means "live" (as in live broadcast/streaming). The correct translation of "in person" is "presencialmente" or "pessoalmente".

2.3 Section 1: "escrow mechanisms" translated as "mecanismos de disputa"

• Original: "routine escrow mechanisms could easily be implemented to protect buyers"
• Translation: "mecanismos rotineiros de disputa poderiam ser facilmente implementados"
• "Escrow" is a custody/guarantee mechanism (funds held by a third party until conditions are met). "Disputa" means conflict/dispute — the opposite concept. Escrow exists precisely to prevent disputes.
• Suggested correction: "mecanismos rotineiros de custódia (escrow)"

Category 3 — Omitted content (1 item)

3.1 Section 3: "to be timestamped" omitted

• Original: "taking a hash of a block of items to be timestamped and widely publishing the hash"
• Translation: "gerando um hash de um bloco de itens e publicando amplamente o hash"
• The phrase "to be timestamped" (a serem registrados temporalmente) was dropped, losing the specification of why items are grouped.

Category 4 — Internal inconsistencies (2 items)

4.1 "prova-de-trabalho" vs "prova de trabalho" — the document alternates between hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms. Under current Portuguese orthographic rules, compound noun phrases do not take hyphens. Should be standardized as "prova de trabalho" throughout.

4.2 "Chave pública" vs "Clave púbica" — the Section 2 diagram uses the correct form for Owners 1 and 2 but the incorrect form for Owner 3 (already covered in 1.1, noted here as internal inconsistency).

Verified elements — no errors found

The following technical elements were checked and are correct in the translation:

• Mathematical formulas in Section 11 (Poisson distribution, probabilities)
• C source code for AttackerSuccessProbability function
• Probability tables (all numerical values for q, z, and P)
• Storage calculation in Section 7 (80 bytes × 6 × 24 × 365 = 4.2MB)
• Decimal format (comma instead of period — correct for PT-BR)
• All 8 bibliographic references

Next steps

I am available to generate a corrected PDF with all fixes applied, maintaining the original formatting, diagrams, and layout. Happy to submit a follow-up PR with the corrected file.

Sources: bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf (EN original) and bitcoin.org/files/bitcoin-paper/bitcoin_pt_br.pdf (PT-BR translation)
Verification references: Decreto 6.583/2008 (Orthographic Agreement); Decreto 57.663/1966 (Geneva Uniform Law); Fábio Ulhoa Coelho, Curso de Direito Comercial