Bitcoin and me (Hal Finney)

[Viendong6158]

R.I.P HAL Sad Without Satoshi , Without HAL and the early contributors to Crypto and Bitcoin , we would not see what Bitcoin is today or maybe never see a Bitcoin or ever know of it.
We should have utmost respect and dedication for these great men and continue their legacy and their dreams of a future ruled by decentralization and cryptocurrencies.

~SoopY~

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[Bugsbey]

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]

You have such an impressive story. Thank you for sharing, it inspires people especially the new ones. Your legacy us worth imitating.

[lakita]

Thanks you very much.
Thank you for sharing this precious thing in this market

[alvinmtp]

Hal Your story is really inspiring, It suddenly made me think of Steve Jobs and Stephen Halkings. Whenever there will be discussions of evolution of bitcoin in the future then no doubt that your name will be taken among them who shaped this currency. That's what the spirit of bitcoin is, it's standing on the strong pillars like you. Thanks for sharing your story, #Salute from me.

[Xavier59]

Yesterday, I made my first Lightning transaction on the mainnet. This was for an experiment about both lightning network and teamworks playing Pokemon on the same game with multiple players interacting together.
Most of the Pokemon were named from a great bitcoin contributor. The first pokemon was called "Hal" and, since I didn't know anything about someone called "Hal", I googled it.
You seemed to be a really great and enthusiastic person, you were also the precusor of the lightning network. As you can see, 4 years after you passed away, you are still a true inspiration for us.
Even if I don't believe in any god or whatever, I hope that you can see from somewhere how you changed the world for the best.
Rest in peace.

[jitenrajput]

That's really encouraging. The positivity towards life is motivating to the ones who have lost from life. Your power to still stick to the code and improvise the things is incredible.

A very big thank you for contributing towards the journey of bitcoin and sharing it in your own words with us.

#Respect

[upinros]

Yes you have just increased the level of discourse in these forums by a few degrees for that alone, you deserve the praise and thank you for taking the time to write your story, it's really interesting that you were there at first. Wishing you all the best and remain optimistic.

[Merlin.Simmons]

Hal Finney is a Bitcoin leyend. May he resurrect in the future with a bioengineered, tall, strong body in the future. I'd heard about Finney a few times from news articles but had never researched him and I never knew he had ALS. Must have took him a while to write this opening post using only his eyes.

[AldenHoward]

The best thing I took away from your tale was how you made mining and bitcoin a family activity.  When I first started with bitcoin I let it consume me, and I began neglect other things around me, including my family.By next year we'll at least get corporate, hedge fund and celebrity devs coming in. Sad in a way but million dollar coins will at least be done right and will [overnight] kill all these ShitCoins and forever do away with their scammer devs.

[Stevelulia]

I happened to be looking at some old coffee orders and came across one from Hal back at the beginning of 2012. Thanks again, Hal, for encouraging me to do my part for the Bitcoin economy. You will be missed.

[Viendong6158]

Hal Finney is a Bitcoin leyend. May he resurrect in the future with a bioengineered, tall, strong body in the future. If cryogenics is a success in a couple of decades (or centuries.. or thousands of years) I wonder how high the BTC will be by then. If Hal is still holding his coins, he will be the richest man on earth.

[Hua cuong]

I'm impressed and inspired by your attitude in the face of adversity. I have wondered before to what extreme efforts I would take to continue programming under conditions such as yours. I'm glad you are able to continue your love for programming. It makes me realize how much I take for granted.

[code]

it is a pity that such a specialist is no longer with us. finding your calling and having fun is the most important thing in life

[oni4an]

An incredible story that inspires other people to believe in themselves and go forward, despite the obstacles. It is very difficult to find your way in this world, but it is even more difficult to decide to follow it when there is no certainty of its correctness in the eyes of others.

[christofyler]

Awesome! A motivational and incredible story that inspires people to have believe in themselves, I think why most people fail is that they copy what other do not knowing what they are capable of. I really think these story will help to open our understanding. Thanks bro!

[Romanlevi1980]

Hal Finney is an actual legend. If they ever make a Bitcoin movie, its characters like this that would make it really interesting. If Hal is still holding his coins, he will be the richest man on earth.

[Bugsbey]

very inspirational and you put things back into perspective.

i've enjoyed reading your posts from the early days and found them highly educational. 

thanks for your help in getting Bitcoin off the ground.

Yes, thread like this is indeed very inspirational and very good to read. In times like this, when we are still waiting fir the right time to sell our bitcoin, atleast we are more inspired to wait.

[Hua cuong]

If they ever make a Bitcoin movie, its characters like this that would make it really interesting. Bitcoin has so many characters that would make for a great movie. I mean Dorian Nakamoto, Craig Wright and the mysterious death of David Kleiman, Hal Finney as a possible Satoshi being cryogenized then reborn 1000 years later with millions of BTC in his power.

[XCryptoFund]

shoot me an email if I am able to lend a hand for the documentation.

Thanks for all you've done.

XCryptoFund

[vakie1]

Thank you for all of your work and for sharing your story. Your remarkable contribution to the foundation of our future economy should let you feel proud and safe to be remembered by all of us.