Bitcoiners celebrate 17th anniversary of Hal Finney's Bitcoin post

The Bitcoin (BTC) assemblage is celebrating the day of cypherpunk and Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney’s station connected January 10, 2009, telling the satellite that helium was moving the Bitcoin node software

“Running Bitcoin,” Finney said connected X, formerly known arsenic Twitter. Finney was the recipient of the archetypal Bitcoin transaction connected the network.

He was born connected May 4, 1956, and pursued a vocation successful machine subject and cryptography, and was 1 of the archetypal radical to respond to Satoshi Nakamoto’s work of the Bitcoin whitepaper. 

Source: Hal Finney

Satoshi sent Finney 10 BTC, valued astatine implicit $900,500 astatine today’s prices, and was besides 1 of the earliest individuals successful interaction with Nakamoto, which has led to speculation that Finney is really Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Unfortunately, Finney passed distant successful 2014 to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative neurological unwellness that gradually breaks down centrifugal functions. He was 58 years old. 

The 2009 station from Finney is present a halfway portion of Bitcoin lore, marking the earliest phases of the decentralized peer-to-peer physics currency network. 

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Is Hal Finney Satoshi? The speculation continues

In 2024, media web HBO aired a documentary bid titled Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, which claimed to person discovered Nakamoto’s identity.

The documentary spurred statement astir the existent individuality of Satoshi, with immoderate arguing that Finney was Satoshi based connected his accomplishment set, respective published cryptography probe papers, and being the archetypal idiosyncratic to person BTC from Satoshi.

Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer celebrated for being the archetypal idiosyncratic to usage BTC successful a commercialized transaction by sending 10,000 BTC for 2 pizzas, antecedently said that Satoshi was not acquainted with Mac OS, Apple’s operating strategy for computers. 

Polymarket likelihood for who HBO would retired arsenic Satoshi. Source: Polymarket

Both Finney and his woman owned Mac OS computers, according to a 2010 online post from Finney.

Jameson Lopp, co-founder of crypto custody institution Casa, besides presented grounds successful 2023 casting uncertainty connected Finney being Satoshi.

Finney ran a marathon contention during a back-and-forth email drawstring betwixt Satoshi and different bundle developer.

The past email was sent astir 2 minutes earlier Finney crossed the decorativeness enactment — decisive grounds that Finney was not Satoshi, according to Lopp.

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