Hal Finney was a software developer, cipherpunk and cryptography advocate who worked on many relevant security-related software projects, the original Bitcoin Core source being one of them. In the cryptocurrency universe, Finney became famous for being the first recipient of Bitcoins. Satoshi Nakamoto‘s very first Bitcoin transaction was sent to Hal Finney as a test.
On January 11, 2009, Hal Finney tweeted one of the most iconic messages in Bitcoin history:
Running bitcoin
— halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009
Mr Finney was later diagnosed with ALS and passed away in August of 2014.
He witnessed Bitcoin’s success from 2009 to 2014 and participated actively in cryptographic and Bitcoin-related forums and made some of the most important contributions to the development of the very first generation of cryptocurrencies.
Hal Finney is considered a legend in the Bitcoin and general cryptocurrency community and we thank him for helping shape the future of money.
Fun fact: some speculate that Mr. Hal Finney was Satoshi Nakamoto himself.