Computer scientist Hal Finney, who is widely known for receiving the very first Bitcoin transaction, passed away ten years ago on Aug. 28, 2014.
Finney died at the age of 58 following his yearslong battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
He was diagnosed with ALS back in August 2009, just months after the first open-source Bitcoin client was released.
Finney, of course, is also known for posting the very first Bitcoin-related tweet on Jan 11, 2009.
The real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, remains a huge mystery. Finney is considered to be the top Satoshi candidate even though he himself denied that he was the man who started it all. He was even extorted by criminals in 2014 despite his poor condition.
After analyzing the newly published Satoshi emails this February, prominent cryptocurrency analyst Adam Cochran doubled down on his theory that Finney was “the bulk of Satoshi.”
However, there is also some evidence that shows that the famous cryptographic activist is not Satoshi Nakamoto. For instance, Finney was busy indulging his passion for marathon running while Nakamoto was working on Bitcoin, according to some photographic evidence.
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Following his ALS diagnosis in 2009, Finney’s health started rapidly deteriorating, and he could barely type by August 2010. At the same time, Satoshi was still rather active on forums.
On top of that, there are also some inconsistencies in personas, but one cannot rule out that Finney was trying to fiercely hide his identity.
While there is still plenty of room for speculation, Finney’s legacy remains undisputable within the Bitcoin community.
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