Hal Finney

1956-05-04 — 2014-08-28
Main Photo
"He ran the first node. He has not stopped."
Hal Finney was a cryptographer and PGP developer who saw what most missed. On January 12, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto sent him ten Bitcoin, the first transaction in the network's history. He ran the second node, the only one operating alongside Satoshi himself. Diagnosed with ALS that same year, he kept coding. From his wheelchair, in a body shutting down, he wrote code and answered emails until the paralysis took his hands. He died August 28, 2014. His body is cryopreserved at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation. He is still, technically, not finished.
BITCOIN ANCHOR PROOF f4184fc596403b9d638783cf57adfe4c75c605f6356fbc91338530e9831e9e16

This memorial is cryptographically signed and anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain.
Exported: 2026-06-06T02:01:31.501Z