Bitcoiners Mark 17 Years Since Hal Finney’s Running Bitcoin Post
The Bitcoin (BTC) community marked the 17th anniversary of Hal Finney’s January 10, 2009 post declaring he was running the Bitcoin node software. “Running Bitcoin,” Finney wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Finney received the first Bitcoin transaction on the network.
He was born on May 4, 1956, pursued a career in computer science and cryptography, and was among the earliest to respond to Satoshi Nakamoto’s release of the Bitcoin white paper.
Satoshi sent Finney 10 BTC, valued at over $900,500 at today’s prices. Finney was also one of the earliest individuals in contact with Nakamoto, fueling speculation that he could be Satoshi Nakamoto. Finney died in 2014 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 58. His 2009 post is widely viewed as an early milestone in the development of the decentralized peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
Is Hal Finney Satoshi? Debate continues
In 2024, HBO aired a documentary series titled Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, which claimed to have identified Nakamoto’s true identity.
The series reignited discussion over Satoshi’s identity, with some pointing to Finney based on his technical background, published cryptography research, and his status as the first person to receive BTC from Satoshi.
Laszlo Hanyecz, a developer known for conducting one of the first commercial Bitcoin transactions by paying 10,000 BTC for two pizzas, has previously stated that Satoshi was not familiar with Mac OS, Apple’s desktop operating system.
Both Finney and his wife owned Mac OS computers, according to a 2010 online post from Finney.
Jameson Lopp, co-founder of crypto custody firm Casa, presented evidence in 2023 challenging the theory that Finney was Satoshi.
Lopp noted that Finney ran a marathon during an email exchange between Satoshi and another software developer. The final email in that thread was sent about two minutes before Finney crossed the finish line, which Lopp argues is decisive evidence that Finney was not Satoshi.
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