Bitcoin and me (Hal Finney)

[JayJuanGee]

I have been looking on this thread because the owner of these account is one of the team or the owner of the bitcoin system. Hal Finney is one that should take credits for the improvement of the system. Since he carry out the first try on how the system works and more probably if you are one of the developer then you will be the one also to take charge on testing.

If you had looked into this thread a bit better, you would have noticed that Hal Finney is no longer a living person.

Your other point about some person taking charge seems to go contrary to how a decentralized system works, such as bitcoin - and that seems to be part of the reason why Satoshi was anonymous and has so far been able to successfully remove himself from the project, remain anonymous or disappear (to the extent that Satoshi might not be dead, too). 

Yes, it seems that Hal Finney had made a lot of contributions to bitcoin during its very early days - but also as time passed there were others who took on increasing roles and "took charge" in the sense that they had been (or have been) making contributions to bitcoin.  Your attempt to suggest that bitcoin is deficient because there does not seem to be a kind of in charge seems to fail/refuse to recognize that "no one in charge" is a feature rather than a bug and seems to be an ongoing success of bitcoin in which bitcoin naysayers, attackers and ignorant folks continue to wrongly or maliciously assert as a kind of bitcoin deficiency.

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[Fmradio98]

Great story. An inspiring one indeed. That's to say we shouldn't give up on bitcoin no matter how bad we feel about it. Bitcoin has come to stay

[Konffetka]

Wow, that's an incredible guy. Hal, I hope that you will go best as one of the first who uses Bitcoin, and even more impressively, that you communicated with Satoshi.

[merclyn]

Im going to have a drink to Hal later.

On ice?   

Some nice single barrel Kentucky bourbon with a single ice ball in the company of 1 other.

[R-J-F]

Hats off to Hal, a true explorer and adventurer in the cyber world. Many of us who realized what a special intellect he possessed came to admire the man as well. Why do we always seem to loose the ones that really matter to the world while the others thrive?  Still mourning...

[Sirocoin]

@halfin aka Hal Finney is a true Legend.  Partially responsible for helping to push $BTC into what it is today 10 years later.  God bless Hal and may God rest your soul...  #CryptoKing

[fistteam]

A good article and inspire people. When bitcoin is not valid until it is worth it, people are still skeptical about it. You already have steadfast thoughts and achievements have come with you. I hope everything with Bitcoin will become better this year.

[concorde899]

We miss you Satoshi. RIP!

[Dennicex]

A good article and inspire people. When bitcoin is not valid until it is worth it, people are still skeptical about it. You already have steadfast thoughts and achievements have come with you. I hope everything with Bitcoin will become better this year.

I'm pretty sure Bitcoin will be fine in the future. This coin is becoming more and more popular every day. After the world community finally accepts Bitcoin as an asset or means of payment, its price will soar hundreds of times.

[Guvn0r]

We miss you Satoshi. RIP!

lol this is not satoshi bro

For those who don't know me, I'm Hal Finney. I got my start in crypto working on an early version of PGP, working closely with Phil Zimmermann. When Phil decided to start PGP Corporation, I was one of the first hires. I would work on PGP until my retirement. At the same time, I got involved with the Cypherpunks. I ran the first cryptographically based anonymous remailer, among other activities.

[lyks15]

Honestly I do not have patience to read this kind of long blog. But this kind of post is worth it to read. I hope all of will achieve what ge achieve. But I hope I am also still alive when get a success in crypto. I am now regreting that I did not believe in the first time that I met bitcoin  wayback 2013 because I have almost waste my 4years before I believe and start to do and invest here in bitcoin.

[TimeBits]

One of my friends has ALS, His name is Richard

I could barely understand him at first, and I did not want him to nark me out for smoking weed (it was not legal at the time) so most of the time as I saw him come down the street in his wheelchair I would just close the garage door on him before he could get to my house. I also just wanted to play video games and not talk for like 20-30 mins. I thought to myself *man fuck it is this guy again who wants to talk my ear off I just wanna get high and play games*

He always would come up to anyone outside all my neighbors and just want to talk to them, that is all he wanted, was some words. "hows your day going" "hows your mom" "how are you" "what are you up to"

I feel like such a asshole looking back.
^ He was a complete stranger at the time, Me in my 20`s and him in his 40s or 50s, but that is not excuse I was just being greedy with my time.

The more I got to know Richard the more I started to like him and talk to him, I wanted to talk to him, he told me not to worry about closing the garage on him he understood why I did it. I told him straight up I was just being a douche bag, he insist I was not. (I was)

Anyways we became friends, He taught me a lot. I learn to treat anyone with any mental/physical disorder with respect if not with more respect than the average being as they put up with it and keep moving on.

We started to get into deeper discussions, He knew about Bitcoin and how fiat worked and stuff like that, I could actually relate to him, more than most my friends my age who just want to talk about gambling, sports and shows most the time, that have no clue about what goes on in the real world, even if I try to explain it to them. But Richard understood everything even gave me insight into a lot of things.

He also uses one of those eye trackers to use the computer

His favorite movie is EPIC (it is a cartoon movie I ended up watching it, pretty cool story line behind it)
make sure you use adblock https://ww1.putlockerfree.sc/films/epic-2013/watching.html/

Some things I learned from Richard:

1. Sure I got a fucked up spine but this guy can`t even walk or anything or barely talk. (I need to stop complaining this guy can`t even leave his chair without help)
2. Treat everyone with respect just because someone looks "retarded" or special needs does not mean their brain is. Sometimes you might think some is a "retard" and they are 100 times smarter than you.
3. There is more than meets the eye, never judge a book by its cover but by the content within it.
4. Handicap people are nice to, if not even nicer than most.
5. Give everyone the light of day, give everyone a chance or two or even three, you might make a new friend.
6. I should be honored that someone wants to talk to me, give me their time for free, ask nothing in return but a little of my time.
7. Treat everyone you meet as they may be the CREATOR of everything.
8. This is why we pay tax, to help people like this. (not line the politicians pockets) some of you may be like why should I have to do that, when you get hit by a car you will realize why paying tax is a good thing. it could happen to you!
9. I don`t know how he knew this but he knew I am a loose cannon, trigger happy when it comes to my anger and retaliation, he knew my father and I and my mother and I get pretty fired up at each other. He told me to count in my head backwards 3, 2 ,1 ask myself why am I getting so angry, ask myself why are they getting so mad at me, watch as my anger gets them angrier, I am still working on this. (I rage real hard, I am trying not to)
 
(I know some of these overlap, I was writing them as they come to me)

There was some really strange interactions in our talks and sit downs in my garage. I will say this, I think people with ALS have some super power that we don`t know about, almost like they can pull data from another dimension or something. I would tell you more but you would not believe me anyways.

Thanks for reminding me I need to get in touch with my old friend, I moved recently and never gave him my number. (I don`t use cell phones)

Thank you for sharing your story Mr. Finney
Take care Hal, Cya soon.

[litecoinCat]

One of my friends has ALS, His name is Richard

I could barely understand him at first, and I did not want him to nark me out for smoking weed (it was not legal at the time) so most of the time as I saw him come down the street in his wheelchair I would just close the garage door on him before he could get to my house. I also just wanted to play video games and not talk for like 20-30 mins. I thought to myself *man fuck it is this guy again who wants to talk my ear off I just wanna get high and play games*

He always would come up to anyone outside all my neighbors and just want to talk to them, that is all he wanted, was some words. "hows your day going" "hows your mom" "how are you" "what are you up to"

I feel like such a asshole looking back.
^ He was a complete stranger at the time, Me in my 20`s and him in his 40s or 50s, but that is not excuse I was just being greedy with my time.

The more I got to know Richard the more I started to like him and talk to him, I wanted to talk to him, he told me not to worry about closing the garage on him he understood why I did it. I told him straight up I was just being a douche bag, he insist I was not. (I was)

Anyways we became friends, He taught me a lot. I learn to treat anyone with any mental/physical disorder with respect if not with more respect than the average being as they put up with it and keep moving on.

We started to get into deeper discussions, He knew about Bitcoin and how fiat worked and stuff like that, I could actually relate to him, more than most my friends my age who just want to talk about gambling, sports and shows most the time, that have no clue about what goes on in the real world, even if I try to explain it to them. But Richard understood everything even gave me insight into a lot of things.

He also uses one of those eye trackers to use the computer

His favorite movie is EPIC (it is a cartoon movie I ended up watching it, pretty cool story line behind it)
make sure you use adblock https://ww1.putlockerfree.sc/films/epic-2013/watching.html/

Some things I learned from Richard:

1. Sure I got a fucked up spine but this guy can`t even walk or anything or barely talk. (I need to stop complaining this guy can`t even leave his chair without help)
2. Treat everyone with respect just because someone looks "retarded" or special needs does not mean their brain is. Sometimes you might think some is a "retard" and they are 100 times smarter than you.
3. There is more than meets the eye, never judge a book by its cover but by the content within it.
4. Handicap people are nice to, if not even nicer than most.
5. Give everyone the light of day, give everyone a chance or two or even three, you might make a new friend.
6. I should be honored that someone wants to talk to me, give me their time for free, ask nothing in return but a little of my time.
7. Treat everyone you meet as they may be the CREATOR of everything.
8. This is why we pay tax, to help people like this. (not line the politicians pockets) some of you may be like why should I have to do that, when you get hit by a car you will realize why paying tax is a good thing. it could happen to you!
9. I don`t know how he knew this but he knew I am a loose cannon, trigger happy when it comes to my anger and retaliation, he knew my father and I and my mother and I get pretty fired up at each other. He told me to count in my head backwards 3, 2 ,1 ask myself why am I getting so angry, ask myself why are they getting so mad at me, watch as my anger gets them angrier, I am still working on this. (I rage real hard, I am trying not to)
 
(I know some of these overlap, I was writing them as they come to me)

There was some really strange interactions in our talks and sit downs in my garage. I will say this, I think people with ALS have some super power that we don`t know about, almost like they can pull data from another dimension or something. I would tell you more but you would not believe me anyways.

Thanks for reminding me I need to get in touch with my old friend, I moved recently and never gave him my number. (I don`t use cell phones)

Thank you for sharing your story Mr. Finney
Take care Hal, Cya soon.

Nice post. I relate to the "friends talking about jack shit" part way too much. I'm only 19 right now, but i'm starting to feel a bit of a disconnect in conversation with my lifelong peers .. nothing meaningful talked about

[TheWolf666]

So sad that you are not here on this forum to read my post. Send you love from Earth, and I hope that you will receive it where ever you are now.
Your contribution to this small planet is bigger than you ever imagined. You are a true legend for the centuries to come.

Love from Thailand.  

Note: Bitcoin is worth $12000! It is just incredible.

[Bitcoinqubit]

I thought I'd write about the last four years, an eventful time for Bitcoin and me.

For those who don't know me, I'm Hal Finney. I got my start in crypto working on an early version of PGP, working closely with Phil Zimmermann. When Phil decided to start PGP Corporation, I was one of the first hires. I would work on PGP until my retirement. At the same time, I got involved with the Cypherpunks. I ran the first cryptographically based anonymous remailer, among other activities.

Fast forward to late 2008 and the announcement of Bitcoin. I've noticed that cryptographic graybeards (I was in my mid 50's) tend to get cynical. I was more idealistic; I have always loved crypto, the mystery and the paradox of it.

When Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list, he got a skeptical reception at best. Cryptographers have seen too many grand schemes by clueless noobs. They tend to have a knee jerk reaction.

I was more positive. I had long been interested in cryptographic payment schemes. Plus I was lucky enough to meet and extensively correspond with both Wei Dai and Nick Szabo, generally acknowledged to have created ideas that would be realized with Bitcoin. I had made an attempt to create my own proof of work based currency, called RPOW. So I found Bitcoin facinating.

When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away. I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin. I mined block 70-something, and I was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction, when Satoshi sent ten coins to me as a test. I carried on an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days, mostly me reporting bugs and him fixing them.

Today, Satoshi's true identity has become a mystery. But at the time, I thought I was dealing with a young man of Japanese ancestry who was very smart and sincere. I've had the good fortune to know many brilliant people over the course of my life, so I recognize the signs.

After a few days, bitcoin was running pretty stably, so I left it running. Those were the days when difficulty was 1, and you could find blocks with a CPU, not even a GPU. I mined several blocks over the next days. But I turned it off because it made my computer run hot, and the fan noise bothered me. In retrospect, I wish I had kept it up longer, but on the other hand I was extraordinarily lucky to be there at the beginning. It's one of those glass half full half empty things.

The next I heard of Bitcoin was late 2010, when I was surprised to find that it was not only still going, bitcoins actually had monetary value. I dusted off my old wallet, and was relieved to discover that my bitcoins were still there. As the price climbed up to real money, I transferred the coins into an offline wallet, where hopefully they'll be worth something to my heirs.

Speaking of heirs, I got a surprise in 2009, when I was suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease. I was in the best shape of my life at the start of that year, I'd lost a lot of weight and taken up distance running. I'd run several half marathons, and I was starting to train for a full marathon. I worked my way up to 20+ mile runs, and I thought I was all set. That's when everything went wrong.

My body began to fail. I slurred my speech, lost strength in my hands, and my legs were slow to recover. In August, 2009, I was given the diagnosis of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease, after the famous baseball player who got it.

ALS is a disease that kills moter neurons, which carry signals from the brain to the muscles. It causes first weakness, then gradually increasing paralysis. It is usually fatal in 2 to 5 years. My symptoms were mild at first and I continued to work, but fatigue and voice problems forced me to retire in early 2011. Since then the disease has continued its inexorable progression.

Today, I am essentially paralyzed. I am fed through a tube, and my breathing is assisted through another tube. I operate the computer using a commercial eyetracker system. It also has a speech synthesizer, so this is my voice now. I spend all day in my power wheelchair. I worked up an interface using an arduino so that I can adjust my wheelchair's position using my eyes.

It has been an adjustment, but my life is not too bad. I can still read, listen to music, and watch TV and movies. I recently discovered that I can even write code. It's very slow, probably 50 times slower than I was before. But I still love programming and it gives me goals. Currently I'm working on something Mike Hearn suggested, using the security features of modern processors, designed to support "Trusted Computing", to harden Bitcoin wallets. It's almost ready to release. I just have to do the documentation.

And of course the price gyrations of bitcoins are entertaining to me. I have skin in the game. But I came by my bitcoins through luck, with little credit to me. I lived through the crash of 2011. So I've seen it before. Easy come, easy go.

That's my story. I'm pretty lucky overall. Even with the ALS, my life is very satisfying. But my life expectancy is limited. Those discussions about inheriting your bitcoins are of more than academic interest. My bitcoins are stored in our safe deposit box, and my son and daughter are tech savvy. I think they're safe enough. I'm comfortable with my legacy.
[edited slightly]

here is the most close answer

   
Re: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?
Today at 02:45:49 PM
 #2122
Quote from: KacperBTCrypto on Today at 02:15:22 PM
Satoshi may make bitcoin famous all over the world.
If we'd know who he is, TV news would talk and talk about it, people would get interested in crypto topics and maybe become new investors ----> BTC GROWS UP!


your so fucking dumb its unbelievable, almost everything can be traced over the internet...but its relative to the mind and 99% of the people is feed from dumb websites and the wrong people///// only 1-2% make money in this industry and most of them activists ...

tv cannot know who is satoshi, know why its a team,,, few people on the web said peer to peer file sharing will do financial freedom one of them, Edward Snowden he was very early Bitcoin adopter he know why hhhh

i explain all this 0ver and 0ver to help people with logic the others huge % will stuck with their dumb ideas and for sure will never do any money in the game,,,its all relative...

this teams need a lot of money to build new projects and feed them self and help others and other important stuff

you probaly didnt read my answer because you so fucking dumb,,,but bitcoin is peer to peer money and it came from peer to peer file sharing nothing new here about bitcoin

the point the punk marketers make it viral very fast...

[Bitcoinqubit]

Yeah this is one is legend. I have read this story before but still after reading again still amazes on this guy here being part of the bitcoin history. It is one of the remarks of bitcoin history and until now it still one of the highlights in bitcoin. This people now are becoming legend.

he is great guy but legend??? why??? because he received bitcoins from the team of satoshi , this is make him legend and dont get me wrong he is great guy but ...he didnt make bitcoin go viral its fact, ...

because if he was part of the team he never will be in the front to receive first bitcoins its can lead to others and other shit even after all ask expert security everything can be traced on the internet...everything ,only 0.002% know to be truly anonymously and its impossible to trace them and its not done with tor ...its different few smart experts explain this on github how its done.

satoshi team used this way to publish the papers its was not with tor...

hel finney is far away from to be legend compare to people like edward snowden, Chelsea E. Manning, Daphne Caruana Galizia(which was killed because she exposed real things and was received* the info from groups of people under one name**) there are bunch others legends

the punk marketers that work on making bitcoin viral are legends who know if they part of team satoshi or not...its unknown....

hel finney isnt punk marketer and didnt make bitcoin viral its fact not theory...he is not marketer...and without top marketers it was not happen so fast and even die.

edward snowden was saying that peer to peer file sharing can make financial freedom because bitcoin peer to peer is not new tech and far away from new tech, its mix of techs that was out there,,,bitcoin came from peer to peer file sharing with twist called block--chain

peer -- blockchain -- peer
not only edward snowden said that peer to peer will financial freedom also few others which i not goint to say names but smart people know to get to this because everything can be traced on the internet... and they said it way before bitcoin came...

some say bitcoin created by banks or governments or agents which this theories come from the most dumb people , this kind of people will also say supply dont affect price and other shit but let look from sharp logic way why??

1. bitcoin came from peer to peer file sharing decentralized tech...bitcoin is peer to peer with twist which called blockchain..

2.why peer to peer file sharing was created what the reason for decentralized tech...very simple, before peer to peer file sharing there was few central servers that hold the mp3,video,movies,software,info and other things and the govermnets pretty fast locate them and shut down them, then people became more smart and create peer to peer file sharing...which each computer is the server that upload and download....which mean the governments now with decentralized tech need to shut down more then 500 million private computers and its impossible...some peer hold mor info some lees its the nature of decentralized tech compare distributed tech where each peer equal in holding to other in some sort of level...
search on google: decentralized vs distributed

3. peer to peer tech come most of the time from activist

4. bank,paypal,visa and bunch other its central tech what was before peer to peer which is decentralized...visa,banks,paypal and others everything go througe centralized servers/entity and this is how they control and make money and know everything about us which lead us to fact not theory they dont behind bitcoin, because peer t peer put them out from the chain...which mean no middle man, so simple.

5. the same with governments its centralized entity and everything is interconnected with banks,paypal, and other....in the moment peer to peer tech enter you put them out of the chain...in other words its the first time we write history.

after all this all the centralized entities are paid by money paper.

satoshi is team on a global scale...edward snowden is part of an international huge team without salaries like agents or politicians and other its mean they know to make money and be undepented, he escaped from usa to china , there people waited him to hide him,,,there are alot like him they just underground to fully and some expose them and dont fear any agents and 0ther shit even they know they under huge risk.

Edward Snowden comes was the most early Bitcoin adopter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2463&v=PVN13ad3UUk 2019 he admit this......41:00 min

hal finney is great guy but compare to the marketers that make bitcoin viral and people like edoward and bunch other he is nothing its fact...
this is are the legends

...
you cannot change facts and everything cam be traced over the internet.

[Bitcoinqubit]

he is great guy but legend??? why??? because he received bitcoins from the team of satoshi , this is make him legend and dont get me wrong he is great guy but ...he didnt make bitcoin go viral its fact, ...

because if he was part of the team he never will be in the front to receive first bitcoins its can lead to others and other shit even after all ask expert security everything can be traced on the internet...everything ,only 0.002% know to be truly anonymously and its impossible to trace them and its not done with tor ...its different few smart experts explain this on github how its done.

satoshi team used this way to publish the papers its was not with tor...

hel finney is far away from to be legend compare to people like edward snowden, Chelsea E. Manning, Daphne Caruana Galizia(which was killed because she exposed real things and was received* the info from groups of people under one name**) there are bunch others legends

the punk marketers that work on making bitcoin viral are legends who know if they part of team satoshi or not...its unknown....

hel finney isnt punk marketer and didnt make bitcoin viral its fact not theory...he is not marketer...and without top marketers it was not happen so fast and even die.

edward snowden was saying that peer to peer file sharing can make financial freedom because bitcoin peer to peer is not new tech and far away from new tech, its mix of techs that was out there,,,bitcoin came from peer to peer file sharing with twist called block--chain

peer -- blockchain -- peer
not only edward snowden said that peer to peer will financial freedom also few others which i not goint to say names but smart people know to get to this because everything can be traced on the internet... and they said it way before bitcoin came...

some say bitcoin created by banks or governments or agents which this theories come from the most dumb people , this kind of people will also say supply dont affect price and other shit but let look from sharp logic way why??

1. bitcoin came from peer to peer file sharing decentralized tech...bitcoin is peer to peer with twist which called blockchain..

2.why peer to peer file sharing was created what the reason for decentralized tech...very simple, before peer to peer file sharing there was few central servers that hold the mp3,video,movies,software,info and other things and the govermnets pretty fast locate them and shut down them, then people became more smart and create peer to peer file sharing...which each computer is the server that upload and download....which mean the governments now with decentralized tech need to shut down more then 500 million private computers and its impossible...some peer hold mor info some lees its the nature of decentralized tech compare distributed tech where each peer equal in holding to other in some sort of level...
search on google: decentralized vs distributed

3. peer to peer tech come most of the time from activist

4. bank,paypal,visa and bunch other its central tech what was before peer to peer which is decentralized...visa,banks,paypal and others everything go througe centralized servers/entity and this is how they control and make money and know everything about us which lead us to fact not theory they dont behind bitcoin, because peer t peer put them out from the chain...which mean no middle man, so simple.

5. the same with governments its centralized entity and everything is interconnected with banks,paypal, and other....in the moment peer to peer tech enter you put them out of the chain...in other words its the first time we write history.

after all this all the centralized entities are paid by money paper.

satoshi is team on a global scale...edward snowden is part of an international huge team without salaries like agents or politicians and other its mean they know to make money and be undepented, he escaped from usa to china , there people waited him to hide him,,,there are alot like him they just underground to fully and some expose them and dont fear any agents and 0ther shit even they know they under huge risk.

Edward Snowden comes was the most early Bitcoin adopter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2463&v=PVN13ad3UUk 2019 he admit this......41:00 min

hal finney is great guy but compare to the marketers that make bitcoin viral and people like edoward and bunch other he is nothing its fact...
this is are the legends

...
you cannot change facts and everything cam be traced over the internet.

[KacperBTCrypto]

you are very inspirational person

[STT]

he is great guy but legend??? why??? because he received bitcoins from the team of satoshi

You are stepping on the good name of a man who can no longer defend himself, its not a good look to be honest.    Really I dont think it is the case that he was purely a recipient of Bitcoins, his influence predates Bitcoin as he was involved in PGP a long time prior.    The creator of PGP was criminally investigated as it was disruptive technology.  
   To me the story for Bitcoin as an answer goes way back to questions asked long before its inception and Hal Finney was part of that.   The legal repercussions of ground breaking software changing the world and the kickback to those inventors and innovators helps explain our on going mythic Satoshi Nakamoto phenomena and why people might not reply to you directly but this does not make you correct in any assumptions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Finney_%28computer_scientist%29

[terencio]

I've bookmarked this thread, it is my first time to read this in BTT Thread and I am grateful for the person who just reply it now, so I learned about this. I am moved by this story and Kudos to you Sir!