{"id":9814,"date":"2023-01-19T08:45:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T08:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/?p=9814"},"modified":"2022-05-16T20:46:28","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T20:46:28","slug":"meet-hal-finney-bitcoin-pioneer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/meet-hal-finney-bitcoin-pioneer","title":{"rendered":"Meet Hal Finney, Bitcoin pioneer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/meet-hal-finney-bitcoin-pioneer\/#history_of_harold_thomas_finney\" >History of Harold Thomas Finney\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/meet-hal-finney-bitcoin-pioneer\/#finney_before_bitcoin\" >Finney before Bitcoin<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/meet-hal-finney-bitcoin-pioneer\/#hal_finney_and_his_bitcoin_development\" >Hal Finney and his Bitcoin development<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/meet-hal-finney-bitcoin-pioneer\/#hal_finney_and_dying_outside\" >Hal Finney and Dying outside<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span><p>Harold Thomas Finney was the first person to run the\u00a0<strong>Bitcoin software<\/strong>, clearly, after its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Hal Finney was part of the group called\u00a0<strong>cypherpunks<\/strong>, the first users with whom Satoshi shared his creation, which is why he is considered a true pioneer and the first\u00a0<strong>bitcoiner<\/strong>. Hal dedicated part of his life to the development of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"history_of_harold_thomas_finney\"><\/span><strong>History of Harold Thomas Finney\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Hal was born in California, specifically in Coalinga on May 4, 1956. He graduated from the\u00a0<strong>California Institute of Technology<\/strong>\u00a0with a degree in Computer Engineering in 1979, where he was noted for his intelligence and insight.<\/p>\n<p>After graduating he started working as a game developer at<strong>\u00a0Astroblast and Space Attack<\/strong>. Subsequently he started a collaboration with\u00a0<strong>Pretty Good Privacy<\/strong>\u00a0(PGP) which led to his signing some time later.<\/p>\n<p>During his professional career he became part of\u00a0<strong>PGP Corporation<\/strong>, becoming the second member of the developers staff of this project. He was a fundamental part of the 2.0 version of this tool.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"finney_before_bitcoin\"><\/span><strong>Finney before Bitcoin<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Before Bitcoin came to light, Hal was already collaborating with the cryptocurrency. In\u00a0<strong>1993<\/strong>, this pioneer published research on \u201c<strong>Detecting Double Spend<\/strong>\u201d and other research on \u201c<strong>Digital Cash and Privacy<\/strong>\u201c.<\/p>\n<p>Later, in 2004, he published an article where he talked about a revision of\u00a0<strong>HashCash<\/strong>\u00a0called\u00a0<strong>RPOW<\/strong>\u00a0that ended up being fundamental for the cryptocurrency. Before the launch of Bitcoin, Hal also contributed to some\u00a0<strong>cryptographic mailing<\/strong>\u00a0lists, not to mention becoming one of the most influential members of the Cypherpunk movement.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Harold\u00a0<\/strong>showed an interest in cryptography and privacy issues although it was not until the creation of the Cypherpunk mailing list that he began to demonstrate his thoughts on the subject and this field.<\/p>\n<p>Hal Finney made many contributions, but one of the most outstanding was the creation, together with Eric Hughes, of the first\u00a0<strong>anonymous remailer<\/strong>. This is known as the cypherpunk remailer and is referred to as\u00a0<strong>Type I<\/strong>. Clearly, it was the one used for the construction of the group.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col small-12 large-12\">\n<div class=\"col-inner\">\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"image_1460237968\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Qui%C3%A9n-es-Hal-Finney_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hal-Finney_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hal-Finney_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-300x205.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Qui\u00e9n es Hal Finney Bitnovo\" width=\"768\" height=\"526\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hal-Finney_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hal-Finney_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1-300x205.jpg 300w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hal-Finney_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1_Mesa-de-trabajo-1.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"hal_finney_and_his_bitcoin_development\"><\/span><strong>Hal Finney and his Bitcoin development<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>As we already know, Finney was the one who supported this cryptocurrency the most from the beginning. Once the\u00a0<strong>Bitcoin whitepaper<\/strong>\u00a0was published, Finney became a loyal supporter of the project to the point of being the first person to run it after Satoshi.<\/p>\n<p>On January 12, 2009, Hal\u2019s Bitcoin address received\u00a0<strong>10 BTC<\/strong>\u00a0sent by<strong>\u00a0Satoshi<\/strong>, which was the first transaction in Bitcoin. In addition, during the first year of the cryptocurrency\u2019s launch, the two exchanged correspondence to clarify and correct\u00a0<strong>errors in the code<\/strong>. Specifically, the error was in version\u00a0<strong>0.1.0<\/strong>\u00a0of the Bitcoin client.<\/p>\n<p>In one of the emails Satoshi\u00a0<strong>wrote<\/strong>: \u201cThe next version, which removed the questionable line of code and disabled the optimization, seems to work fine for me. So the problem may be related to that bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hal wrote a post called \u201c<strong>Bitcoin and me<\/strong>\u201d in 2013 via BitcoinTalk where he put \u201cI found Bitcoin fascinating\u201d. No doubt his work on both Cypherpunk and Bitcoin was exceptional. Among other things, Hal talks about his relationship with Satoshi during the development of the<strong>\u00a0first version<\/strong>\u00a0of Bitcoin:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I took to it immediately. I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin. I mined block 70-something, and received the first bitcoin transaction, when Satoshi sent me ten coins as proof. I kept up an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days, mostly me reporting bugs and him fixing them.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"hal_finney_and_dying_outside\"><\/span><strong>Hal Finney and Dying outside<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Although Finney enjoyed potential, this was his\u00a0<strong>last publication<\/strong>, as on October 5, 2009 he published a letter entitled \u201cDying outside\u201d. In this letter Hal told that he was suffering from the degenerative disease\u00a0<strong>E.L.A<\/strong>. Despite this disease, he\u00a0<strong>did not stop or stop working<\/strong>\u00a0on Bitcoin programming until his death in 2014 due to this condition.<\/p>\n<p>Hal Finney\u2019s body is cryopreserved at the<strong>\u00a0Alcor Life Extension Foundation<\/strong>. A portion of the funding for his cryogenic dormancy was paid for through Bitcoin\u00a0<strong>donations<\/strong>\u00a0from his fans.<\/p>\n<p>All his thoughts and experiences about Bitcoin were reflected in his publication \u201c<strong>Bitcoin and me<\/strong>\u201c. This work will go down in history as the last publication of a Bitcoin pioneer and at the same time as his farewell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span>Harold Thomas Finney was the first person to run the\u00a0Bitcoin software, clearly, after its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Hal Finney was part of the group called\u00a0cypherpunks, the first users with whom Satoshi shared his creation, which is why he is considered a true pioneer and the first\u00a0bitcoiner. Hal dedicated part of his life to the development [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-criptomonedas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}