Bitcoin: 12 Years After His Death, Why Hal Finney Still Fascinates

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

In Brief

• Hal Finney received the first bitcoins sent by Satoshi Nakamoto in January 2009.
• He had already been working on cryptography and digital currencies long before Bitcoin.
• Theories presenting him as Satoshi continue to circulate twelve years after his death.

Bitcoin Owes Him Its First Transaction

On January 12, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney. The network was only a few days old. No exchanges. No ETFs. And not really any price either. Finney had downloaded the Bitcoin software very early and was communicating directly with Satoshi about its operation. He reported bugs and participated in the early tests.

Two days earlier, he had published a now-famous message: "Running Bitcoin". At the time, nothing guaranteed that the project would survive more than a few weeks. However, Finney did not come from nowhere.

He had been part of the cypherpunk movement since the 1990s, a community of developers who used cryptography to advocate for privacy 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 regularly comes up when recounting the origins of Bitcoin. The system allowed for the creation and transfer of digital proofs of work. It did not possess all the characteristics of Bitcoin, but several ideas can be found in the currency later imagined by Satoshi.

Finney was already thinking about digital scarcity. RPOW is often referred to as one of the technical ancestors of Bitcoin. His career makes the following events even more special. When Satoshi published the white paper in October 2008, Finney had exactly the profile of someone likely to be interested: cryptographer, cypherpunk, developer, and already familiar with experimental digital currencies.

He was on board. Then his health deteriorated. Finney learned in 2009 that he suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The disease progressed rapidly. By 2013, he explained that he was almost entirely paralyzed. Nevertheless, he continued to program with adapted devices.

Hal Finney died on August 28, 2014, in Phoenix, at the age of 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 Disappear

Just looking at his background helps to understand why the theories continue. Finney had the skills. He was present from the very first days. He knew the code. And he received the first transaction from Satoshi. For several years, he even lived in the same city as a man named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, another figure later associated with the mystery.

That’s a lot of coincidences. None constitute proof. Finney always denied having created Bitcoin. The known exchanges between him and Satoshi also show two distinct interlocutors, even if some continue to think they might have been fabricated.

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

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