If you only care about the ups and downs of BTC, you might only understand half of Bitcoin. Today, I want to talk to you about Hal Finney — the person who sent the first tweet in human history about Bitcoin.
1. The person running Bitcoin
On January 11, 2009, just three days after Bitcoin was born, Hal tweeted two short words: "Running bitcoin".
He was the first person in the world to download and run the Bitcoin software (besides Satoshi Nakamoto), and he was also the first to receive a transfer of 10 BTC. Without his early code fixes and computational power support, Bitcoin might have long since perished in its infancy.
2. The geek soul that ALS cannot take away
He unfortunately developed ALS at the height of his fame. In the last years of his life, his body became paralyzed to the point where only his eyes could move. Even so, he continued to sit in front of the computer, using an eye-tracking system to type code letter by letter to develop secure encrypted wallets for Bitcoin.
As he wrote in his farewell letter (Bitcoin and Me): 'I still feel lucky, I can still program.'
3. 'I am not interested in the price of Bitcoin'
While everyone is going crazy over the price surges and drops, Hal said he cares more about whether this is a successful social experiment. He stored the coins mined in the early days in an offline wallet and only took out part of them for medical expenses when he became seriously ill.
He did not use his identity as 'Satoshi's close friend' to exploit anyone; he only cared: can mathematics and code bring true financial freedom to humanity?
4. Waiting for the 'resurrected' future guest
After Hal passed away in 2014, his body was sent to the Alcor Foundation for cryogenic preservation.
He turned himself into a piece of 'offline code', stored in a liquid nitrogen tank. He is waiting, waiting for future medical technology to cure his illness, and also waiting for the Bitcoin he personally helped create to truly change the world's outcome.
Conclusion:
In a day filled with memes and constant cries of loss, reading Hal Finney's story might help you regain a bit of the original intention of staying committed to this space.
Salute to Hal, salute to every pure builder. 🫡
