Just over a year ago, precisely on August 28, 2014, Hal Finney passed away, the developer who received the first Bitcoin sent by Satoshi Nakamoto. It is one of those moments that marks the history of cryptography, and it’s worth remembering who this very important figure was in the early days of BTC.

Hal Finney was not just any programmer. The guy was an American software developer, specialized in console games, but he made history by being the first to receive a Bitcoin transaction. Satoshi sent 10 BTC from his address to Hal Finney, probably as a protocol test. His full name was Harold Thomas Finney II, and he was one of the earliest active contributors to Bitcoin, as well as a well-known activist in the crypto community. In 2004, even before Bitcoin existed, Finney had created the first reusable Proof of Work system.

Now comes the interesting part. For many years, especially after his death, a theory started circulating in the community: was Hal Finney actually Satoshi Nakamoto? The logic seemed to make sense to some. Finney had the technical knowledge, was there from the beginning, and had directly collaborated with Satoshi. In 2020, on Reddit, this discussion exploded. Some argued that Finney desperately needed money for medical expenses related to his illness, so why wouldn’t he have sold Satoshi’s bitcoins if he truly owned them? Others pointed to his last Reddit post, where Hal Finney reminisced about the early days of Bitcoin, his correspondence with Nakamoto, and that first 10 BTC transaction.

But here’s the crucial detail: Hal Finney suffered from ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, since 2009. He lived with this disease until his death in 2014, which left him progressively paralyzed. Still, he continued to be involved in the crypto community as long as he could.

The theory gained strength, but in October 2023, a study by Jameson Lopp practically buried this hypothesis. Lopp presented several pieces of evidence, including an episode from April 18, 2009, when Hal Finney was participating in a 10-mile race while Satoshi Nakamoto was sending emails to Mike Hearn. Hard to be in two places at once, right? This was a well-founded blow to the theory that Hal Finney was Satoshi.

The mystery of who really is Satoshi Nakamoto continues. What we know for sure is that Hal Finney was one of the first to believe in the Bitcoin protocol and contributed significantly to its early days. His death, over a decade ago, marked the end of an era. And the community keeps trying to uncover the creator’s identity, but at least now we have more clarity that Hal Finney, despite all his importance, was not the man behind the mask.