Hal Finney
Hal Finney: Cryptographer, first person besides Satoshi to run Bitcoin, recipient of the first transaction. Cypherpunk and PGP developer who built RPOW, his own proof-of-work currency. He ran Bitcoin from day one and received 10 BTC from Satoshi in block 170. First Bitcoin post: reply on the Cryptography list, 7 Nov 2008.
Source: metzdowd.com
Key facts
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Also known as | @halfin | metzdowd.com |
| Role | Cryptographer, first person besides Satoshi to run Bitcoin, recipient of the first transaction | metzdowd.com |
| First known Bitcoin link | First Bitcoin post: reply on the Cryptography list, 7 Nov 2008 | metzdowd.com |
| Died | Died on 28 August 2014 after years with ALS. Cryopreserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. | en.wikipedia.org |
| Education | Caltech, BS in electrical engineering | en.wikipedia.org |
| Work | PGP Corporation | en.wikipedia.org |
Background
Cryptographic payment schemes; RPOW, his proof-of-work currency (his own words) [bitcointalk.org]
Timeline
- 12 Jan 2009: Received 10 BTC from Satoshi in block 170. [mempool.space]
- 2009-08: Diagnosed with ALS (as he wrote in 2013). [bitcointalk.org]
Connections
- Satoshi Nakamoto: Received 10 BTC from Satoshi in block 170 and emailed him bug reports [bitcointalk.org]
- Wei Dai: “extensively correspond[ed]” with Wei Dai (his words) [bitcointalk.org]
- Nick Szabo: “extensively correspond[ed]” with Nick Szabo (his words) [bitcointalk.org]
In their own words
“Bitcoin seems to be a very promising idea.” (7 Nov 2008, via Cryptography mailing list (metzdowd)) [metzdowd.com]
“Running bitcoin” (11 Jan 2009, via Twitter) [x.com]
“When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away. I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin.” (19 Mar 2013, via BitcoinTalk) [bitcointalk.org]
From the Bitcoin Museum
“Running bitcoin” (11 Jan 2009): Hal Finney tweets two words at 03:33 UTC (10 January in California). He was the first person besides Satoshi to run the software.
FAQ
- Who is Hal Finney?
- Hal Finney: Cryptographer, first person besides Satoshi to run Bitcoin, recipient of the first transaction. Cypherpunk and PGP developer who built RPOW, his own proof-of-work currency. He ran Bitcoin from day one and received 10 BTC from Satoshi in block 170. First Bitcoin post: reply on the Cryptography list, 7 Nov 2008. (source: metzdowd.com)
- When did Hal Finney first appear in Bitcoin's history?
- First Bitcoin post: reply on the Cryptography list, 7 Nov 2008. (source: metzdowd.com)
- When did Hal Finney die?
- Died on 28 August 2014 after years with ALS. Cryopreserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. (source: en.wikipedia.org)
- How was Hal Finney connected to Satoshi Nakamoto?
- Received 10 BTC from Satoshi in block 170 and emailed him bug reports. (source: bitcointalk.org)
See also
- Satoshi NakamotoSatoshi Nakamoto: Creator of Bitcoin (pseudonym), active 2008–2011. Wrote the Bitcoin whitepaper (31 Oct 2008), mined the genesis block and released Bitcoin v0.1 (8 Jan 2009). Handed the project to other developers in December 2010 and stopped writing in April 2011. First known message: email to Adam Back, 20 Aug 2008.
- Wei DaiWei Dai: Computer engineer, author of b-money, reference [1] of the whitepaper. Described b-money in 1998: money created by solving computational problems and kept on pseudonymous accounts. Satoshi wrote that Bitcoin “expands on your ideas into a complete working system”. Announced b-money on the cypherpunks list, 27 Nov 1998 (UTC).
- Nick SzaboNick Szabo: Computer scientist and legal scholar; proposed bit gold and smart contracts. Described bit gold, a chain of proof-of-work strings with a distributed title registry. Satoshi named Bitgold together with b-money as Bitcoin's predecessors in 2010. The whitepaper does not cite it.
References
- metzdowd.com metzdowd.com
- X · @halfin x.com
- en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
- bitcointalk.org bitcointalk.org
- x.com x.com
- mempool.space mempool.space