My Journey with Bitcoin (Hal Finney)

I wanted to share a bit about my experiences over the past four years, which have been quite the ride for both Bitcoin and myself. For anyone who doesn’t know me, I’m Hal Finney. I kicked off my crypto journey by working on an early edition of PGP, closely alongside Phil Zimmermann. When Phil launched PGP Corporation, I was among the first hires there and stuck with PGP until I retired. During that time, I also got involved with the Cypherpunks and even ran the first anonymous remailer based on cryptography, among other things. Fast forward to late 2008 when Bitcoin was announced. I’ve seen that a lot of the old-timers in cryptography (I was in my mid-50s back then) tend to become pretty cynical. But I’ve always been more of an idealist; I’ve loved the enigma and contradictions that come with crypto. When Satoshi brought Bitcoin to light on the cryptography mailing list, it wasn’t exactly met with open arms. A lot of cryptographers have witnessed too many grand plans from inexperienced folks, so their response was pretty skeptical. But I was more optimistic. I had been fascinated with cryptographic payment systems for a long time. Plus, I was fortunate enough to have met and exchanged many ideas with Wei Dai and Nick Szabo, who are often credited with concepts that Bitcoin eventually brought to fruition. I even tried to create my own proof of work based currency called RPOW, so I was truly intrigued by Bitcoin’s potential. As soon as Satoshi released the first version of the software, I jumped on it. I believe I was the second person, after Satoshi, to start running Bitcoin. I mined some block in the 70s and, in a cool twist, I was the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction when Satoshi sent me ten coins as a test.

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.

I was just browsing the forum when all of a sudden there's this impressive thread. Thanks for taking the time to write down your story, it's absolutely fascinating that you were there in the beginning. Wishing you all the best and keep up your optimism!

Thank you, fine sir! You are enjoying a fulfilling existence, despite the obstacles you've encountered. To that I say, "Congratulations!"

I'm sure there are plenty of us who would like to contribute, if we can.

There is at least a small group of the technical crowd around here who has been aware of your challenges— your excellent lesswrong post has been circulated many times— and every time you post something it generates great excitement on IRC. Seeing you continue on with a productive life is an inspiration to everyone and, speaking for myself usually makes my own difficulties seem a bit more trivial and surmountable— doubly so considering that many of us found your work interesting before your troubles. (E.g. I corresponded with you about RPOW back in 2004.) More selfishly, I believe having people contributing to the Bitcoin ecosystem from many perspectives is highly valuable— your I/O limitations are a burden no one would choose, but perhaps they give you useful perspectives that others are less likely to have. I'm grateful that you've chosen to continue to spend time in this area and I hope you'll continue to find it fulfilling.  When Pieter created a pull request with your ECDSA optimizations (work which he has since continued and achieved something like a 4x speedup over OpenSSL) I quipped that we were truly in the future: we have a decenteralized cryptocurrency, and one of its developers exists in brain-in-a-jar state. After your bcflick post I ordered an extra TPM/XMHF capable system (don't want to risk bricking my laptop messing around with it)... I'm pretty excited by that work and eager to see where it goes.

You have singlehandedly elevated the level of discourse on these forums by several degrees... for that alone, you deserve our praise and thanks.

Hal Finney, I haven't heard about you before, since I've not been much into the crypto-world before bitcoin. But I read up on you online, and surely the work you've done is most impressive, and it's also impressive that despite the sickness you haven't given up. I am also happy to learn that you have your wife by your side that cares for you through these days. Hal Finney supported by wife on his outside adventures. Source: http://www.noozhawk.com/local_news/article/101710_hal_finney_als/  I enjoyed reading your story, and it's part of bitcoin history now. Actually when I finished reading your message, I had tear in my eyes. It's great that you still get out and about in your wheel-chair. You've contributed more than many other men in their lifetime, and when your time comes, I'm sure your bitcoins will be put to good use, and who knows what price they'll be at. Thanks for writing, and not just fading away. With high respect, Herodes

Here here, and hooray for that. Hal. I am humbled.

Wow. As a physician, I am humbled by your adaptive capabilities. I think most of us, myself included, use much lamer excuses for not getting stuff done. Thank you.

Thanks for taking the time to share your story. I'm impressed and inspired by your attitude in the face of adversity. I've been programming for 30 years and I hope I can continue as long as I am able. 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. In tribute to your dedication and contribution to bitcoin, I have decided that I will refresh and improve my articles on Satoshi Client Operation (currently pinned in the technical forum). (Although it may not be until summer when I have some time off). If you can continue to contribute in your circumstances, then I have no excuse for not doing the same.

Wow, incredible story. Thanks for sharing.

It's truly inspirational how you've faced such immense challenges without giving up. And it's always exciting to see that you've posted something here -- your projects are always very interesting!

Thanks for sharing your story. Your contribution is immortal. Kudos.

Thank you. For all you've done in your life, and for putting it into perspective.

The single most beautiful post ever made on this board, Hal. You don't know me but I lurked the cypherpunk list way back when. You made more of an impact on my life, and that of many others, than you can probably comprehend. PGP changed everything and you helped. Bitcoin has changed everything and you helped. You even have a Bitcoin attack named after you. Thanks for sharing what you know, Hal. You're showing us how to do it.

Wow. Bitcoin suddenly feels like what it was always supposed to be: the future.

Hal, thanks for sharing this with us, very touching. Satoshi was (is) a pure genius. May we live by Satoshi's legacy.

Thank you for sharing your story here with us and thank you for all your contributions to Bitcoin. I am sure that once Bitcoin has changed the world, your name will remain a legend forever linked to it's dawn.

Without lowering the reverence of this thread I'd just like to say that Hal's avatar always reminds me of Pierce Brosnan. Thanks for all the work you've put into making Bitcoin what it is.