Recently, I’ve been thinking about a pretty interesting story. Many early Bitcoin enthusiasts used cryptocurrency to realize all kinds of dreams—traveling around the world, financial freedom… but one of Bitcoin’s original developers, Hal Finney, used it to pursue a more sci-fi goal—exploring the future itself.

Speaking of Bitcoin’s history, everyone knows about “Pizza Day” in 2010, when software engineer Laszlo Hanyecz exchanged 10k Bitcoins for 2 pizzas. But in fact, Bitcoin’s first transaction was even earlier, a test transaction between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal Finney in mid-2009. That means Finney was the first person in the world to receive Bitcoin.

Hal Finney was a true crypto punk, a firm believer that cryptography would bring about a revolution. He participated in developing the free encryption program PGP, which later became a secret communication tool for journalists and whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden, who used it to expose the US government’s mass surveillance programs. Interestingly, this Bitcoin pioneer never got rich from it—he had already exchanged his Bitcoins for dollars early on because he was an engineer, not an investor.

In his final stages of life, Hal Finney was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), which gradually paralyzed his body. At that time, a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts donated 25 Bitcoins to him and his family, worth about $1.4 million back then. The original intention was to buy communication devices to help him interact with others, but Hal Finney ultimately decided to invest the money into a more sci-fi technology—cryopreservation of the human body.

In August 2014, after Hal Finney passed away in the hospital, his body was sent to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting cryonics. The logic behind this decision was very Hal Finney: since he had always embraced new technology and explored the future, why not take a gamble on cryotech?

Honestly, cryonics has seen little progress over the past decades. Ice crystals can damage the brain, current technology can’t fully thaw a human body, and no one has ever truly been revived from cryopreservation. Many scientists believe it’s fundamentally impossible. But Hal Finney’s wife once said that external skepticism never stopped him. He was always optimistic about the future, embracing every new technology and making full use of everything he had.

This story really illustrates a key point—a early Bitcoin developer used the rewards from cryptocurrency to pursue humanity’s most ambitious dream: conquering time itself.