Bitcoiners are commemorating the seventeenth anniversary of Hal Finney’s Jan. 10, 2009 submit saying he was working the Bitcoin node software program.
Finney wrote:
“Operating Bitcoin.”
Early bitcoiner and first transaction
Finney was a cypherpunk and early Bitcoin pioneer who corresponded with Satoshi Nakamoto quickly after the Bitcoin whitepaper was printed.
He additionally acquired the primary Bitcoin transaction on the community, when Satoshi despatched him 10 BTC.
At as we speak’s costs, that 10 BTC could be value greater than $900,500.
Finney, born Could 4, 1956, later died in 2014 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at age 58.
Why the Satoshi hypothesis persists
Finney’s proximity to Bitcoin’s launch, his cryptography background, and his early communications with Nakamoto have lengthy fueled claims that he could have been Satoshi.
The 2009 “Operating Bitcoin” submit has grow to be a core piece of Bitcoin lore tied to the community’s earliest days.
Counterarguments and up to date debate
In 2024, HBO aired a documentary sequence, Cash Electrical: The Bitcoin Thriller, which claimed to have found Satoshi’s identification and reignited debate.
Developer Laszlo Hanyecz beforehand argued Satoshi was not aware of Mac OS.
Finney and his spouse owned Mac computer systems, in accordance with a 2010 submit from Finney.
In 2023, Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp additionally argued towards Finney being Satoshi, citing an e mail change timed round a marathon Finney ran, together with a last e mail despatched about two minutes earlier than he crossed the end line.