Summary
- On August 9, 2013, Hal Finney shared his last post on Bitcointalk.
- He provided an update on his health, expressing thoughts about the future.
Hal Finney is one of the earliest and most influential figures in the Bitcoin community. He was an American software dev, and in his early career, he was credited as lead dev on several console games. He received the first Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto.
On August 9, 2013, he made his last post on the Bitcointalk forum, providing new insights on his health and expressing thoughts about the future.
Back then, Finney was suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Despite his deteriorating condition, he remained optimistic and continued to support the Bitcoin community.
Hal Finney’s Last Post
In his last post on Bitcointalk, he discussed the use of technology to maintain communication and control over his environment, thanks to eye-tracking software. He also mentioned his desire to witness the growth and success of Bitcoin, expressing hope that it would become something truly remarkable.
At the beginning of his post, he said that at one point, he got involved with the Cypherpunks, and he ran the first cryptographically based anonymous remailer among other activities.
He noted that when Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list, he got a skeptical reaction. Finney, on the other hand, had long been interested in cryptographic payment schemes.
He also mentioned that even if Satoshi’s true identity was a mystery, he believed that he was dealing with a young man of Japanese ancestry who was very smart and sincere.
Finney also mentioned his diagnosis that came back in 2009, explaining that ALS is a disease that kills motor neurons that carry signals from the brain to the muscles.
He said that at the moment of writing his post, he was essentially paralyzed and fed through a tube. He operated the computer using a commercial eye-tracker system, which also has a speech synthesizer.
He also said that he was working on something new using the security features of modern processors designed to support Trusted Computing to harden Bitcoin wallets. It was almost ready to release.
He finished his post by saying that even with the disease his life was very satisfying, but his life expectancy was limited. He also said that his BTC was stored in his family’s safe deposit box, and his son and daughter were tech-savvy. “I’m comfortable with my legacy,” he said.
He also said the following about Bitcoin:
“Bitcoin has some problems, but it also has the advantage of being the first-mover and the one that is trusted by the world.”
He continued and said:
“I’ve seen some good ideas for changes but they would have to be implemented over time so as not to disrupt the installed base of Bitcoin users. I’ve grown very attached to Bitcoin, and I’m sad to see it get some bad press. My hope is that it will grow into something truly remarkable.”
Hal Finney passed away a year later on August 28, 2014, but his legacy continues to live.