Remembering Bitcoin Pioneer Hal Finney (May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014)

Seven years ago today, legendary computer programmer and recipient of the first-ever Bitcoin transaction Hal Finney passed away as a result of complications of ALS.

Finney worked as a video game developer and then as a developer for PGP Corporation, an early public-key cryptography software provider. He was also an active member of the cypherpunks mailing list and, in 2004, created the world’s first reusable-proof-of-work (RPOW) system, a variation on the proof-of-work system that would later define Bitcoin.

But Finney is probably best remembered by Bitcoiners for his early insight into how revolutionary the project could be. As our Aaron van Wirdum reported last year, Finney was one of the first members of the cryptography mailing list to recognize its potential.

“Bitcoin seems to be a very promising idea,” he wrote in 2008, responding to an email that Satoshi Nakamoto sent to the list sharing the Bitcoin white paper. “I like the idea of basing security on the assumption that the CPU power of honest participants outweighs that of the attacker… I also do think that there is potential value in a form of unforgeable token whose production rate is predictable and can’t be influenced by corrupted parties.”

Finney would go on to work regularly on the project, becoming one of the world’s first Bitcoin miners, helping with technical contributions and, infamously, receiving the first Bitcoin transaction directly from Nakamoto.

On January 10, 2009, Finney tweeted a simple message that has since become a favorite in the Bitcoin community, garnering more than 31,000 likes and 15,000 retweets to date: “Running bitcoin.”

Running bitcoin

— halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009

Finney was diagnosed with ALS that year and the disease soon confined him to a wheelchair, ultimately paralyzing much of his body. Still, he used eye-tracking software to continue writing Bitcoin code.

“Today, I am essentially paralyzed. I am fed through a tube, and my breathing is assisted through another tube,” Finney wrote on the Bitcointalk message board on March 19, 2013, just 17 months before his death. “It’s been an adjustment, but my life is not too bad… I still love programming and it gives me goals… I’m comfortable with my legacy.”

Though Bitcoin has been designed as a system free from the influence of any single leader, Finney remains one of its most celebrated and revered individuals. His prescience, optimism and passion for creating a digital form of cash continue to inspire all of us who believe that when Bitcoin fixes money, it can fix the world.

To celebrate Finney’s legacy, we’ve compiled Bitcoin Magazine’s best stories about the trailblazing cryptographer. On this day, more than any other, it’s worth remembering his contributions.

• The Genesis Files: How Hal Finney’s Quest For Digital Cash Led To RPOW (And More)

• Hal Finney — We Salute You

• Running Bitcoin: A Sculpture Celebrating Hal Finney’s 65th Birthday

• Our Hero Hal: Fundraising For A Bitcoin Visionary

• Celebrating A Pioneer, Bitcoiners Will #RunForHalFin

Video: Vitus Zeller On Team Satoshi And Bitcoin Advocacy Through Sports

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQItTifa3do

German entrepreneur and Bitcoin enthusiast Vitus Zeller began his Team Satoshi athletic initiative in January 2019. By virtue of the #TeamSatoshi hashtag (now popular among Bitcoin sports enthusiasts), a worldwide torch is passed on Twitter between marathon runners who embrace and promote the values of sound money. In this exclusive Bitcoin Magazine interview, held on the second day of The Lightning Conference in Berlin, Zeller explained how it all started and how a personal challenge grew into a global phenomenon.

From Tour de Satoshi to Team Satoshi

It all started with Zeller’s desire to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block, so he embarked on a 10-day challenge to bike across the Swiss Alps. His journey, which he called the “Tour de Satoshi,” was more than a personal tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto: Every night, he paid for his hotel room with bitcoin as a way of raising awareness and spreading adoption. Zeller’s trial also bears the symbolism of transformation: He began riding his bicycle in the defining city of the Renaissance (Florence, Italy) and stopped in Frankfurt, Germany, at the European Central Bank.

“Tour de Satoshi was a winter bike tour through Italy, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria and Germany. I went from Florence to the European Central Bank, trying to pay every night with Bitcoin.”

-Vitus Zeller

In August 2019, Zeller upped the stakes by inviting other athletes to join a triathlon challenge across Switzerland and Germany. Seven Bitcoin enthusiasts would run, cycle and swim over a distance of 222 miles and pass a torch along the way. This effort gave birth to the Team Satoshi concept.

“We had a triathlon through Switzerland and Germany. It was joined by other bitcoiners, including Jeremias from LocalBitcoins and Anita from the ‘Bitcoin & Co.’ podcast,” said Zeller.

A Tribute to Hal Finney

Less than a month later, Team Satoshi became even more popular thanks to a tribute to Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney. As a way of remembering the day when Finney ran his last half-marathon prior to entering a phase of ALS-induced physical deterioration, bitcoiners all around the world have been encouraged to go out for a run and publish a screenshot of their performance on Twitter under the #RunForHalFin hashtag.

“We also did the memorial run for Hal Finney during which we asked bitcoiners to join for a run in memory of Hal. Ten years ago, in 2009 he ran his last half-marathon.”

-Vitus Zeller

Just a couple of months on, Team Satoshi is still expanding and spreading the word about Bitcoin and the cypherpunk values of freedom of information, human rights, free speech, privacy and freedom of transactions.

“We also started a Lightning Torch called #TSTorch or #TeamSatoshiTorch, and it’s being handed, just like the Olympic torch, from athlete to athlete,” Zeller said. “The idea is that each athlete adds the kilometers run during the trial or competition and sends that amount of satoshis to the next athlete. Yesterday, for example, we had an athlete who ran an ultramarathon in Singapore and is now handing the torch to another bitcoiner who’s running a marathon in Slovenia in the name of Team Satoshi. A week later, somebody else is running at the New York City Marathon. There is quite a lot going on and we are planning an event for the halving.”

Anyone Can Join Team Satoshi

As Zeller explained, there are no physical trials or financial requirements involved in becoming a part of Team Satoshi. Participation is voluntary and is only based on ideological compatibility and the willingness to reveal one’s identity to the public.

Furthermore, the organization is decentralized enough to allow athletes and enthusiasts to create accounts on teamsatoshi.org and create pages of their own, containing personal initiatives and trials. In the long term, this can become a fundraising platform through which athletes get funded with bitcoin.

“You just need to be a Bitcoin enthusiast who likes the cypherpunk ideas, and you need to want to put your face out there,” Zeller explained. “If you fulfill these two criteria and truly want to join Team Satoshi, you can create a login at teamsatoshi.org. You can create a page there and maybe even get your own donations and your own event sponsors.”

Celebrating a Pioneer, Bitcoiners Will #RunForHalFin

On August 28, 2014, cypherpunk and Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney passed away due to complications with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which he had been fighting for nearly five years. 

Prior to being diagnosed, the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction was an avid runner who never shied away from expressing his hobby on Twitter, even training for the prestigious Boston marathon.

Inspired by Finney’s dedication to Bitcoin and the sport of running, the team behind the Satoshi Freeathlon is organizing a worldwide event to mark the fifth anniversary of the cypherpunk’s death. The specific date for the event was chosen because, according to Fran Finney, her husband’s “last real run” took place September 6, 2009. 

Ten years after Finney’s final athletic achievement, Team Satoshi is inviting enthusiasts from all over the world to go on a run and post their progress on Twitter using the #RunForHalFin hashtag. A special entry for the event has also been posted on the Team Satoshi website.

“I looked up Hal Finney’s Twitter quite a few times,” Team Satoshi leader Vitus Zeller told Bitcoin Magazine. “And there I saw that he loved to run. He was partly an inspiration for starting Team Satoshi, too. Therefore, I knew for a long time that I wanted to dedicate a Team Satoshi community event in his memory and I know that he’d love the idea.”

Celebrating a Bitcoin Pioneer

Hal Finney was the first person on the cypherpunk mailing list to show enthusiasm toward Bitcoin. He believed so much in the disruptive potential of Satoshi Nakamoto’s cryptographic currency that on January 10, 2009, he estimated that each bitcoin would be valued at $10 million if all of the world’s wealth was to be invested in it. This bullish prediction came just one day prior to his famous and frequently referenced tweet “Running bitcoin” — the first social media reference of Satoshi’s project.

Before Bitcoin, Finney had a prolific career as an Atari video game developer and as a developer of cryptographic tools. In the early 1990s, he was one of Philip Zimmermann’s first hires at the PGP Corporation, where he laid the foundations for the “web of trust” concept through the world’s most popular email encryption service. 

In 2014, Finney broadcasted to the cypherpunks’ mailing list a proposal for Reusable Proof of Work (RPOW) — a cryptocurrency prototype whose technological foundations were used by Satoshi Nakamoto for bitcoin mining.

As revealed in his short essay “Bitcoin and Me,” Finney worked on Bitcoin code until the last days of his life. He was still passionate about the great potential of Satoshi’s invention and remained positive about the future of BTC as a currency, regardless of market dynamics. Had he not embraced Bitcoin early on, it’s very possible that Satoshi Nakamoto wouldn’t have reached the same amount of success with his project — Finney is well-known for his bug fixes and methodical approach to coding.

Considering the prolific contributions that Finney has made to Bitcoin, as well as his long-time love for running, the idea of joining the #RunForHalFin campaign on September 6, 2019, seems to be almost a moral duty for every community member who is physically fit enough to take the challenge. 

There is no sign-up fee and there is no right or wrong way to join the movement — there are no instructions on how you should announce your participation nor any restrictions on where or for how long you should run.

“I think everyone can simply go for a run and post a picture of their point of view under the #RunForHalFin hashtag,” Zeller said.