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Hal Finney

From Satoshipedia, the Satoshi Mail encyclopedia

Hal Finney (1956–2014) was an American software developer and cypherpunk who worked for the PGP Corporation and in 2004 created the first reusable proof-of-work system, RPOW.[1] He was the first person other than Satoshi to use the Bitcoin software,[2] and on 12 January 2009 he received 10 bitcoins from Satoshi in block 170, the first bitcoin transaction.[3]

With Satoshi

Finney was one of the reviewers who received Satoshi's source files in November 2008. His reply asks how large the network might grow: “Tens of nodes? Thousands? Millions?” (the email). Satoshi answered that 100,000 block-generating nodes was “a good ballpark large-scale size to think about”.

When v0.1 came out in January 2009, Finney ran it at once and spent the following days reporting crashes and testing debug builds with Satoshi (“Crash in bitcoin 0.1.0”, “select failed 10038 fix”). He later posted on the forum as Hal (his posts).

Illness and death

Finney announced in 2009 that he had been diagnosed with ALS. In March 2013 he wrote “Bitcoin and Me” on BitcoinTalk, describing his early involvement. He died on 28 August 2014 and was cryopreserved by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.[1]

Speculation

Finney was suggested as Satoshi, partly because he had lived for ten years in the same town as Dorian Nakamoto; he denied it.[1] The 2026 documentary Finding Satoshi proposed that Satoshi was a partnership between Finney and Len Sassaman.[2] Both have died, so neither can answer. See Identity of Satoshi Nakamoto.

In the archive

33 messages in 13 conversations with Satoshi.

See also

References

  1. Hal Finney (computer scientist), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
  2. Satoshi Nakamoto, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.
  3. History of bitcoin, Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 20 October 2026.

Primary sources

The messages and commits this article draws on, in Satoshi Mail and where they were first published.

  1. Re: Bitcoin source files attached, Private email with Hal Finney, 19 November 2008. Original source
  2. Crash in bitcoin 0.1.0, Private email with Hal Finney, 10 January 2009. Original source
  3. select failed 10038 fix, Private email with Hal Finney, 11 January 2009. Original source

Published by Tyler Howell for Satoshi Mail. Written with AI assistance from the sources listed above and checked against them. Last updated 22 October 2026. Spotted an error? Email itstylerhowell@gmail.com (how articles are made).

Categories: People · Cypherpunks · Correspondents · Identity candidates