Hal Finney (Harold Thomas Finney II, May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014) was a pioneer in cryptography, software developer, and a legendary figure in the history of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
His Journey
Graduated in engineering from Caltech in 1979, he started working on the development of video games for consoles (such as Adventures of Tron). He then became passionate about cryptography and digital privacy, joining the cypherpunk movement (advocates for privacy through encryption). He worked at PGP Corporation, a key system for encrypting emails. In 2004, he created the first reusable proof-of-work (RPoW) system, a direct precursor to the mechanism that Bitcoin uses to mine and secure the network.
His Role in Bitcoin
When Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, Finney was one of the first to recognize its potential. On January 11, 2009, he tweeted the famous: "Running bitcoin," being the first person (besides Satoshi) to run the software. On January 12, 2009, he received the first Bitcoin transaction in history: 10 BTC sent by Satoshi Nakamoto. He reported bugs, suggested improvements, and mined blocks in the early days, helping stabilize the network when it was extremely fragile.
Speculations about Satoshi Nakamoto
Many speculated that he was Satoshi (he lived in the same city as Dorian Nakamoto, had perfect technical knowledge, and his writing style was similar), but Finney always denied it and there is evidence (differences in coding style, activity schedules) that indicates he was not. He was a key collaborator, but not the creator.
His Last Years
In August 2009, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease that progressively paralyzed him. Despite this, he continued contributing to Bitcoin using eye-tracking software to program until almost the end. He used part of his mined BTC for medical expenses. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 58.
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