Hal Finney's role in early bitcoin development?

[DougM]

The following is a great thread for bitcoin history buffs like myself. However, I am a bit confused about Hal Finney's role with early bitcoin development. Hal Finney was added as a developer by Satoshi himself to the original bitcoin sourceforge project in early December 2008 suggesting an early collaboration beyond what I have read in the public domain email exchanges unless I missed something.  Anyone else have more insight into why Satoshi added him first and so early?  Here is the summary of Hal's involvement mentioned in the earlier thread:

From the github contributors list I noticed that on selecting a range between 2009-2010 I can see few developers https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/graphs/contributors?from=2009-08-30&to=2010-12-31&type=c and https://github.com/non-github-bitcoin (an account created for commits before the bitcoin-core code was probably migrated to github from sourceforge)

1) Satoshi Nakamoto
2) sirius-m (Martti Malmi)
3) laszloh - based on some commits made here https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/252/log/?path= (go to older and you'll find them all here) https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/code/123/
4) Gavin Andresen

I think it is reported somewhere that Nick Szabo also communicated with Satoshi. Hal Finney was also the recipient of the first

Bitcoin transaction, so he had to have contact with Satoshi in some way, other than the Crypto forum they talked on. ..

Hal Finney discovered the Bitcoin project via a cryptography mailing list, then later he interacted with Satoshi via emails

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Perhaps you can get his role in his own thread, Bitcoin and me (Hal Finney).

As far as Hal's involvement in the early bitcoin mining,



https://twitter.com/halfin/status/1110302988

[Darker45]

Well, the Bitcoin whitepaper was released in the early days of the last quarter of 2008. Hal must have found about it shortly after and immediately had email correspondence with Satoshi.

Finney was said to be the first person to report bugs he found in the earliest Bitcoin codes directly to Satoshi. Satoshi himself would respond to these emails with the corresponding fixes.

And so with his contributions it was not mind-boggling that Satoshi himself added Hal as a developer, and also chose him to be the first Bitcoin receiver when the former made a test transaction on the 11th of January 2009, at least a week after its launch.

[DougM]

Perhaps you can get his role in his own thread, Bitcoin and me (Hal Finney).

I read that epic post of his and it didn't really answer anything about his actual development/collaboration role prior to first release to explain why he was the first developer added:

When Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list, he got a skeptical reception at best. ...I was more positive. I had long been interested in cryptographic payment schemes. .... 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.

It *sounds* from the Hal's own post that he loved the bitcoin concept, but he didn't really collaborate with Satoshi until AFTER he downloaded the first release of the software where he started to provided Satoshi feedback via email. BTW The publicly available email exchange makes for excellent reading for bitcoin history buffs: https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/finneynakamotoemails.pdf

Unfortunately, we can't ask either Hal or Satoshi about their collaboration prior to the initial release, but these historical records sure seem to suggest it was more significant than either Satoshi or Hal ever indicated. Seems like something worth mentioning in the Hal own 'bitcoin and me (Hal Finney)' thread that (technically) he was the FIRST official bitcoin developer after Satoshi.   

As of Jan 5th, 2009 'Hal Finney' listed to as bicoin sourceforge developer along with Satoshi:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090105145118/http://sourceforge.net/project/memberlist.php?group_id=244765


and was added '4 weeks' prior to Jan 06 2009...i.e. End of November or early December 2008
https://web.archive.org/web/20090106201347/http:/sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/#item3rd-6

[anu1908]

i always believed that he contributed some codes and suggestions to satoshi privately prior to or when his disease is not that severe, but that's that. nobody knows exactly how deep he is involved, except for mining a few blocks and then start focusing on his health. there's no source to know this further, but we can think at least satoshi believes he has some contribution and could help him develop his software, so he added him to the project.

[BitcoinFX]

See: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5165538.msg54950273#msg54950273

...snip...

Hal Finney though, was telling us the truth!

...snip...

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.

...snip...

...snip...

N+1 (Now you do the math!)
- https://youtu.be/WFmWhwyA0NU

...

CSW doesn't know sh1t about Bitcoin.
- https://youtu.be/LJsVDH-3b3Y

...

Whois Satoshi? Known Satoshi IP addresses? ...
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5155191.0

 

...

 
Hey "Satoshi" ... I think I found you ...
 

 
Am I right ?

 
 
N.B. I'm actually being serious here!

Hal was essentially Satoshi IMHO

Nakamoto (the originator) was/is someone else!

N+1 

...

+ MERIT OP

[ChiBitCTy]

Hal's talks/words on bitcoin and cryptocurrency are ones anyone looking to learn more about bitcoin and it's history should check out. As a cypherpunk Hal certainly knew what he was talking about and was instrumental in the early days.

[anoufal]

I am sure that at the early stages many people contributed to the development of the crypto industry. But nevertheless Satoshi was still the first.

[DoubleEdgeEX]

If I would have to bet on someone to be the real Satoshi it would be Hal.Eventually it doesn´t matter if he was Satoshi or not but his participation was truly remarkable . He left too early, I´m certain he could have had a lot of positive impact on the development and acceptance of BTC

[BitcoinFX]

You can tell them until one is blue in the face ...

The originator is/was not Hal.

The Prisoner: Who is Number 1 | 1967-1968
- https://youtu.be/-RgrBqE5EHM

"There is no number one" - SWIM

 

[jademaxsuy]

Truly an amazing guy. Hal Finney was a developer and believe to be the first one bitcoin transaction from bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Finney_(computer_scientist)). This guy has a lot of knowledge about satoshi nakamoto since he too was a computer scientist and believe in bitcoin as to be the solution of fiat currency problems or the too much of the centralization system. I could not say too much with this guy but he is part of the bitcoin history with Satoshi Nakamoto.

[vanyxeen]

In January 2011, Finney noted the more speculative conversation taking place in the community’s early days, saying those with bitcoin should think about how they could put that potential wealth to work in a positive way. “Since we’re all rich with bitcoins, or we will be once they’re worth a million dollars like everyone expects, we ought to put some of this unearned wealth to good use.”

[BitcoinFX]

In January 2011, Finney noted the more speculative conversation taking place in the community’s early days, saying those with bitcoin should think about how they could put that potential wealth to work in a positive way. “Since we’re all rich with bitcoins, or we will be once they’re worth a million dollars like everyone expects, we ought to put some of this unearned wealth to good use.”

Nice sentiments!

You have to realize that it was difficult for early Bitcoin adopters (myself included) to really HODL, despite what we knew and made forum posts about.

Quite simply life gets in the way of these things. Hal and his family were most certainly not billionaires either and sold a lot of Bitcoin to pay for his care.

...

Herewith, the first Bitcoin (BTC) Exchange prices and how they were calculated ...

- http://newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com/page/2009+Exchange+Rate
- http://newlibertystandard.wikifoundry.com/page/Exchange+Rate

Its a copy of the original website which was at the free domain service wetpaint, although the above is as I remember it.

...

Here is another earlier post from Hal on sourceforge in response to Satoshi ...

- https://sourceforge.net/p/bitcoin/mailman/message/21312757/

Re: [bitcoin-list] Bitcoin v0.1 released
From: <hal@fi...> - 2009-01-11 03:16:43

Satoshi Nakamoto writes:
> Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new electronic cash
> system that uses a peer-to-peer network to prevent double-spending.
> It's completely decentralized with no server or central authority.
>
> See bitcoin.org for screenshots.
>
> Download link:
> http://downloads.sourceforge.net/bitcoin/bitcoin-0.1.0.rar

Congratulations to Satoshi on this first alpha release.  I am looking
forward to trying it out.

> Total circulation will be 21,000,000 coins.  It'll be distributed
> to network nodes when they make blocks, with the amount cut in half
> every 4 years.
>
> first 4 years: 10,500,000 coins
> next 4 years: 5,250,000 coins
> next 4 years: 2,625,000 coins
> next 4 years: 1,312,500 coins
> etc...

It's interesting that the system can be configured to only allow a
certain maximum number of coins ever to be generated. I guess the
idea is that the amount of work needed to generate a new coin will
become more difficult as time goes on.

One immediate problem with any new currency is how to value it. Even
ignoring the practical problem that virtually no one will accept it
at first, there is still a difficulty in coming up with a reasonable
argument in favor of a particular non-zero value for the coins.

As an amusing thought experiment, imagine that Bitcoin is successful and
becomes the dominant payment system in use throughout the world.  Then the
total value of the currency should be equal to the total value of all
the wealth in the world. Current estimates of total worldwide household
wealth that I have found range from $100 trillion to $300 trillion. With
20 million coins, that gives each coin a value of about $10 million.

So the possibility of generating coins today with a few cents of compute
time may be quite a good bet, with a payoff of something like 100 million
to 1! Even if the odds of Bitcoin succeeding to this degree are slim,
are they really 100 million to one against? Something to think about...

Hal

RIP Hal

...

Its sickening to think that the likes of Craig Wright, who has publicly denounced Hal and also effectively tried to hijack the Bitcoin BTC project from its true originators, is still proliferating his sham.

[dothebeats]

Hal Finney was like the earliest beta tester with a keen liking on cryptography and a legitimate cypherpunk. It's natural for him to be attracted to bitcoin since it aligns with his ideals and what he likes most. Having said that, he conveyed most of the feedback Satoshi needed in order to polish the code further, and soon a following of very early adopters including developers that got to work in the code started to occur. Perhaps one can say that Hal is like the earliest public figure of bitcoin, with talks about how this system is going to help the future and what ways could it be use for the greater good--kind of like Andreas Antonopoulos today.

[BitcoinFX]

Hal Finney was like the earliest beta tester with a keen liking on cryptography and a legitimate cypherpunk. It's natural for him to be attracted to bitcoin since it aligns with his ideals and what he likes most. Having said that, he conveyed most of the feedback Satoshi needed in order to polish the code further, and soon a following of very early adopters including developers that got to work in the code started to occur. Perhaps one can say that Hal is like the earliest public figure of bitcoin, with talks about how this system is going to help the future and what ways could it be use for the greater good--kind of like Andreas Antonopoulos today.

A recent profile of Hal Finney from Alcor (a cryopreservation company) quarterly magazine ... tweeted by https://twitter.com/danheld

- https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1244655439024779265.html

- https://twitter.com/danheld/status/1244655439024779265

...

Hal Finney Becomes Alcor’s 128th Patient
- https://www.alcor.org/blog/hal-finney-becomes-alcors-128th-patient/

...

"This would make @halfin very happy!"
- https://twitter.com/franfinney/status/1264561309992882182

"We are excited to announce that @alsagoldenwest
 is the first Chapter in @alsassociation
 authorized to accept #Bitcoin
 donations, through the #SoCalRide in memory of @halfin
, to advance the search for effective treatments & cures for #ALS! Learn more: http://HalsPalsFightALS.org "
- https://twitter.com/alsagoldenwest/status/1264401792282083328

[ololajulo]

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.

There are few clarification above that he was not actually involved in any development that pertains to bitcoin. He was a short time miner at the tail end of his life. Have not seen anyone alive at the moment own up of a close relationship with satoshi.  I hope he wrote the whole story cause there is a note of being edited.

[seoincorporation]

As we know, hall was the first users who receive a bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto, He made a great work with the code and we can see him and an early user. But he is far away to the winklevoss twins' bitcoin fortune.

One thing is to be an early developer, and another thing is to be an earlier investor.

[@LuxBTC]

Not Much information on Finney's role in Bitcoin early development. But by the fact that he was the first one to receive BTC, he must have played a key role in Bitcoin development.

I believe Adam Back is Satoshi Nakamoto, since the analysis of Satoshi's posts (frequency, period of posting, structure of language and sentences) indicate of someone who lives in UK.

If you read his bio, there are certainly valid points why he might be Satoshi.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Back

But at the end, it doesn't really matter.