Thread by @AlexesNakamoto

1/
On this day in 2014, Hal Finney passed away.
One of the first to run #Bitcoin, the very first to receive BTC from Satoshi.
A true cypherpunk. 🙏

But who was he? How did he live? More in the thread. 👇

2/
- Hal was born May 4, 1956 in California.
- Studied engineering at Caltech.🎓
- Before Bitcoin, he wrote code for Atari games like Astrosmash and Adventures of Tron.

3/
In the 90s Hal joined the Cypherpunks.
Privacy, cryptography, freedom.
He worked on PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and even built anonymous remailers.

4/
2004: Hal created “Reusable Proof-of-Work.”
A direct ancestor to Bitcoin’s consensus.
He was thinking about digital money years before the rest.

5/
Jan 12, 2009.
Satoshi sends Hal 10 BTC – the first Bitcoin transaction ever. ⚡
He was the second person on Earth to run the Bitcoin software.

6/
Hal’s legendary 2009 tweet:
“Running bitcoin.”
Two words that became a symbol for an unstoppable idea.

7/
In 2009 Hal was diagnosed with ALS. 💔
Before that he loved running marathons & ultramarathons – pushing his limits. 🏃
Even as his body failed, he kept coding for Bitcoin with eye-tracking software. A true fighter.

8/
August 28, 2014 – Hal Finney passed away.
Cryopreserved, still waiting for the future.
His vision of Bitcoin as “an idea that will not go away” lives on.

Follow me 👉 @AlexesNakamoto
for more Bitcoin history, memes & insights.