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There are different accounts as to who created the secp256k1 standard, for example:

Mastering Bitcoin, p.61:

Bitcoin uses a specific elliptic curve and set of mathematical constants, as defined in a standard called secp256k1, established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

theymos in this thread on r/crypto:

secp256k1 isn't a NIST curve. It was created purely by SECG. SECG also publishes some NIST curves in their standards (such as secp256r1, aka P-256), but secp256k1 isn't one of them.

So who created it? Is there a 'canonical' publication of it somewhere?

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It can be found in https://www.secg.org/sec2-v2.pdf:

SEC 2: Recommended Elliptic Curve Domain Parameters

Certicom Research

Contact: Daniel R. L. Brown ([email protected])

January 27, 2010

Version 2.0

c©2010 Certicom Corp.

In section 2.4.1, "Recommended Parameters secp256k1".

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    Is it then correct to state that NIST doesn't have anything to do with the secp256k1 standard?
    – drogos86
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 13:12
  • 3
    Yes, NIST has nothing to do with the secp256k1 standard. Some NIST-invented curves are standardized both through NIST and through SECG (e.g. NIST P-256 is the same curve as SECG secp256r1), but secp256k1 is not one of them. It was constructed by Certicom, and only standardized through SECG (SECG is basically Certicom...).
    – Pieter Wuille
    Commented May 5, 2022 at 13:14
  • UPDATE: secp256k1 was indeed created by SECG/Certicom back around 2000 (SEC2 v2 is 2010, but v1 was 2000), but as of Feb. 2023 it is also 'allowed' by NIST for blockchain, see SP800-186 Appendix H.2 .
    – dave_thompson_085
    Commented Mar 17 at 1:06

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