Bitcoin: 12 years after his death, why Hal Finney still fascinates

Twelve years after his death, Hal Finney remains impossible to escape from the history of Bitcoin. The cryptographer received the very first BTC transaction sent by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 12, 2009. Ten bitcoins to test a network that still had virtually no value. Today, those 10 BTC would be worth over $800,000. And another question still refuses to go away: Did Finney really know Satoshi’s identity?

Bitcoin owes him its first transaction

On January 12, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney. The network is then only a few days old. No exchange. No ETFs. And not really a price either. Finney had downloaded the Bitcoin software early on and spoke directly with Satoshi about how it worked. He reported bugs and participated in the first tests.

Two days earlier, he had published a message that became famous: “Running Bitcoin”. At the time, there was no guarantee that the project would survive more than a few weeks. Finney didn’t come out of nowhere, though.

Since the 1990s, he belonged to the cypherpunk movement, this community of developers who used cryptography to defend confidentiality and freedom on the Internet. He also worked at PGP Corporation, around the Pretty Good Privacy encryption software. In 2004, he developed Reusable Proofs of Work, or RPOW. Five years before Bitcoin.

Hal Finney had already worked on post-cash

RPOW remains one of the reasons why his name comes back regularly when telling the origins of Bitcoin. The system allowed digital proofs of work to be created and then transferred. It did not have all the characteristics of Bitcoin, but several ideas are found in the currency later imagined by Satoshi.

So Finney was already thinking about digital scarcity. We also came back to RPOW as one of the technical ancestors of Bitcoin. His career makes what follows even more special. When Satoshi published the white paper in October 2008, Finney had exactly the profile of the person likely to be interested in it: cryptographer, cypherpunk, developer and already familiar with experimental digital currencies.

He responds. Then his health deteriorated. Finney learned in 2009 that he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The disease progresses rapidly. In 2013, he explained that he was almost completely paralyzed. Despite everything, he continues to program with suitable devices.

Hal Finney died on August 28, 2014 in Phoenix, at age 58. His body was then cryopreserved by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, in accordance with the arrangements he had made. Bitcoin was then worth a few hundred dollars.

The Satoshi Mystery Refuses to Go Away

You only have to look at his journey to understand why the theories continue. Finney had the skills. He was there from the first days. He knew the code. And He received the first transaction from Satoshi. And for several years, he even lived in the same town as a man named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, another character later associated with the mystery.

That’s a lot of coincidences. None constitutes proof. Finney has always denied creating Bitcoin. Known exchanges between him and Satoshi also show two distinct interlocutors, although some continue to believe they may have been fabricated.

In April, a documentary further revived the theory presenting Hal Finney and Len Sassaman behind Satoshi Nakamoto. Still no cryptographic proof. Twelve years after his death, Finney therefore retains a rather special place. He can be told without any theory about Satoshi and still be one of the most important characters in Bitcoin.

First recipient. First tester. And probably one of the few humans who traded directly with Satoshi when Bitcoin was still worth next to nothing. The 10 BTC from January 2009 would exceed $800,000 today. The transaction is worth much more in the history of Bitcoin.