Finney seemed to be the very first person to openly run Bitcoin (BTC), going lower within the annals of crypto Twitter history having a famous tweet that frequently resurfaces:
Raise a glass towards the world’s first Bitcoiner today. Hal Finney, the very first person to get a Bitcoin transaction from the one and only Satoshi Nakamoto might have celebrated his birthday today.
Running bitcoin
— halfin (@halfin) The month of january 11, 2009
On Bitcointalk.org, Hal Finney described that when Satoshi first released the program, he “grabbed it immediately.”
“I think I had been the very first person besides Satoshi to operate bitcoin. I found block 70-something, and that i was the person receiving the very first bitcoin transaction, when Satoshi sent ten coins in my experience like a test.”
The wallet address for that 10 Bitcoin transaction informs a tale: surging to 10 Bitcoin in value in ’09 (roughly $400,000 in the current terms), before Bitcoin were built with a dollar-denominated value.
For Pete Rizzo, editor at Kraken and Bitcoin magazine, Finney would be a “visionary”:
✨ Today is Hal Finney’s 66th birthday. RIP to some true legend — the person receiving the very first #Bitcoin transaction along with a visionary who accepted its invention when others wouldn’t dare pic.twitter.com/rKNJ0m3ftI
— RIZZO (@pete_rizzo_) May 4, 2022
Finney sadly died from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as motor neuron disease, in Phoenix in 2014. However, an eternal technologist, he was cryopreserved through the Alcor Existence Extension Foundation and could be introduced to existence using a technological medium later on.
Before the proper diagnosis of the debilitating illness, Finney was known in excess of just running Bitcoin: he ran half-marathons up until September sixth, 2009.
Happy Birthday to the best Hal Finney!!
Your spirit shall always survive…@halfin@franfinney pic.twitter.com/GHkODO8sqM
— PU₿LORD (@publordhodl) May 4, 2022
As part of his legacy, many Bitcoin foundations and non profit organizations organize running occasions including “Running Bitcoin” to battle ALS.
Related: ‘How I met Satoshi’: The pursuit to educate 100M people about Bitcoin by 2030
For many Bitcoin supporters, it’s a period to appreciate everyday his existence and celebrate his achievements. However in typical Bitcoin Twitter fashion, it is also an chance to create light from the situation:
Consider what we should might have completed with a complete Inney
— Bitcoin Lebowski (@DudeJLebowski) May 4, 2022
