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The 1 MB block limit was added at a time when the only way to run a wallet was to run a full node
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As far as I know, the first non-full node wallet was MultiBit. I'm not sure how to prove that there weren't any other SPV wallets before that.
If you are willing to accept that MultiBit was first, then the announcement of MultiBit was on September 12, 2011:
I am pleased to announce the release of a new bitcoin client called MultiBit.
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We've already established that the block size limit was added in 2010, so if there were no other SPV wallets before MultiBit (in 2011), then the only way to run a wallet was to run a full node.
Furthermore, in May of 2010 (just 2 months before the block limit was added) Satoshi stated that there were no SPV wallets yet:
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Simplified Payment Verification is for lightweight client-only users who only do transactions and don't generate and don't participate in the node network. They wouldn't need to download blocks, just the hash chain, which is currently about 2MB and very quick to verify (less than a second to verify the whole chain). If the network becomes very large, like over 100,000 nodes, this is what we'll use to allow common users to do transactions without being full blown nodes. At that stage, most users should start running client-only software and only the specialist server farms keep running full network nodes, kind of like how the usenet network has consolidated.
SPV is not implemented yet, and won't be implemented until far in the future, but all the current implementation is designed around supporting it.
Note that there were services that ran full nodes and then supplied users with an "account". Most of these services that existed at that time were either eventually hacked and had their user's bitcoins stolen, or ran off with their user's bitcoins themselves. Please take note that an "account" is NOT a "wallet" no matter how much Coinbase wants you to believe it is. With an "account" you are essentially giving your bitcoins away to someone else, and they are promising that they will send a certain amount of
"their" bitcoins from
their wallet on your behalf. You have to decide if you trust them to follow through on that promise.
In the meantime, sites like
vekja.net and
www.mybitcoin.com have been experimenting with
account-based sites. You create an account on a website and hold your bitcoins on account there and transfer in and out. Creating an account on a website is a lot easier than installing and learning to use software, and a more familiar way of doing it for most people. The only
disadvantage is that you have to trust the site, but that's fine for pocket change amounts for micropayments and misc expenses. It's an easy way to get started and if you get larger amounts then you can upgrade to the actual bitcoin software.