Bitcoin Archive

Hal Finney (1956–2014)

Caltech engineering graduate, one of the principal developers of PGP 2.0, Extropian, cryonics advocate, creator of Reusable Proof-of-Work (RPOW), first person other than Satoshi to run Bitcoin, and recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction. Diagnosed with ALS in August 2009, he continued contributing to Bitcoin from a wheelchair. Cryopreserved by Alcor as patient A-1436.

Harold Thomas Finney II was born on May 4, 1956, in Coalinga, California, and grew up in Arcadia, California. He graduated as valedictorian from Arcadia High School in 1974 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1979.

Cryptography and PGP: In 1991, Finney began volunteering for Phil Zimmermann’s Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) project, writing code for free. He became one of the principal developers of PGP 2.0. When Zimmermann founded PGP Inc. in 1996, Finney was hired as one of the first employees (the company later became part of Symantec through acquisitions).

Extropianism and Cryonics: Finney was an active participant in the Extropy Institute’s discussions on cryonics, life extension, space colonization, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence. He became interested in cryonics during his freshman year at Caltech. On October 15, 1992, he and his wife Fran signed their Alcor cryonics membership paperwork in Riverside, California. He remained an Alcor member for over 20 years.

Reusable Proof-of-Work: In 2004, Finney created the first Reusable Proof-of-Work (RPOW) system — a precursor concept to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work mechanism. He was deeply engaged with the cypherpunk movement’s goal of creating digital cash.

Bitcoin: On January 9, 2009, Finney downloaded Bitcoin v0.1 on its release day and became the first person other than Satoshi Nakamoto to run a Bitcoin node. He began mining around Block 70. On January 11, 2009, he tweeted “Running bitcoin” — the first public mention of running the software. On January 12, 2009, he received 10 BTC from Satoshi in Block 170 — the first person-to-person Bitcoin transaction in history.

ALS and Final Years: In August 2009, Finney was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite progressive paralysis, he continued writing code for Bitcoin — eventually using eye-tracking software to communicate and program. He retired from PGP Corporation (Symantec) in early 2011. On March 19, 2013, he published “Bitcoin and Me” on BitcoinTalk, describing his experience as Bitcoin’s first user.

Hal Finney died on August 28, 2014, at 8:50 AM in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was cryopreserved by Alcor Life Extension Foundation as their 128th patient (member A-1436). He is survived by his wife Fran, son Jason, and daughter Erin.

Related Entries

15 entries

Aftermath

Previously unpublished Satoshi-Finney emails revealed

Michael Kapilkov ↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Hal Finney, Fran Finney

CoinDesk published previously unpublished emails between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney, obtained from Hal's personal computer via his widow Fran Finney. The emails included Finney asking Satoshi about network scalability in November 2008, Satoshi personally notifying Finney of the v0.1 release on January 8, 2009, and a follow-up where Satoshi mentioned being unable to receive incoming connections.
Aftermath

The alternative genesis block — Satoshi's pre-release test block from September 2008

SerHack ↔ Satoshi Nakamoto, Ray Dillinger, Hal Finney

SerHack published an analysis of a pre-release Bitcoin genesis block dated September 10, 2008 — discovered in source code Satoshi shared privately in November 2008. The test block had a completely different hash, trivially easy difficulty, and an initial block reward of 10,000 units. The September 10 date coincides with Lehman Brothers announcing $3.9 billion in losses.