the first recipient of BTC from Satoshi Nakamoto

Ten years ago today, Hal Finney, the recipient of the first Bitcoin sent from Satoshi Nakamoto’s address, passed away. For many years, Finney was considered by some to be the true creator of BTC, Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Hal Finney: 10 years since the death of the first recipient of BTC sent by Satoshi Nakamoto

Today is a day of remembrance. It has been exactly ten years since the death of Hal Finney, the developer who received the first Bitcoin sent by Satoshi Nakamoto.

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“Ten years ago, the first beneficiary of #Bitcoin, Hal Finney, passed away.”

Hal Finney is an important name in the crypto sector, as he is the man behind the first P2P transaction ever made on the Bitcoin blockchain. 

In fact, it is known that from Satoshi Nakamoto’s address, 10 BTC had been sent to Hal Finney, probably as a test. 

The real name of the first BTC beneficiary is Harold Thomas Finney II and he was an American software developer, particularly of console games. Obviously, Finney is especially known for being one of the first contributors to Bitcoin, and for having received the first transaction in BTC from Satoshi Nakamoto. 

Not only that, Finney was also a well-known activist in the crypto community and in 2004 he created the first reusable Proof-of-Work system. 

It is not certain that Finney knew the identity of Nakamoto, but what is certain is their collaboration to test Bitcoin. 

Finney died on August 28, 2014. Therefore, before the Ethereum protocol was launched and after he discovered in 2009 that he was suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).

Hal Finney: the hypothesis that he is Satoshi Nakamoto

Given his contribution to the development of Bitcoin from the beginning and the strong pressure to identify with a name and surname who the creator of BTC was, Hal Finney has often been associated with Satoshi Nakamoto. 

For example, in 2020, on Reddit, a debate had sparked among the users of the crypto community precisely on this topic. 

There are those who argued that Finney was in desperate need of money for medical expenses and it is not clear why he did not sell Satoshi Nakamoto’s coins. Therefore, assuming that he had access.

Others, on the other hand, refer to Finney’s last post on Reddit, in which the developer recalled the beginnings of Bitcoin, his correspondence with Nakamoto, and the first transaction of 10 BTC. Following this, Finney also openly talked about his fatal illness that paralyzed him until his death ten years ago. 

In the debate, it is evident that while many users agree that Satoshi might be dead. The mystery remains about the private keys that allow access to the first BTC.

In October 2023, however, the research by Jameson Lopp emerged which, contrary to the debate, aimed to debunk the idea that Hal Finney is behind Nakamoto. 

In fact, Lopp reported several pieces of evidence such as the episode on April 18, 2009, in which Finney participated in a 10-mile race, while Nakamoto was sending emails to Mike Hearn. 

The release of the Bitcoin Whitepaper

Last May 2024, the precious white paper (Whitepaper) of Bitcoin by Nakamoto was released and returned to Bitcoin.org. This happened after Craig Wright failed in his attempt to be recognized as the creator of the protocol.

In fact, previously, Bitcoin.org had to face legal constraints that forced it to limit access to the Whitepaper to users residing in the United Kingdom. 

Not only that, the platform had also lost a lawsuit in 2021 against Wright who accused them of copyright infringement of the Bitcoin Whitepaper, claiming himself as the author of the document. 

The release of the Bitcoin Whitepaper was made possible after the ruling in the United Kingdom declared that Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, last March 2024.