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HF
Dossier
First Bitcoin transaction recipient · cypherpunkCypherpunk · Genesis✓ Verified
Hal Finney
"Running bitcoin."
Known as Hal, Hal FinneyActive Jan 2009 – Aug 2014
Why they matter
Finney's early adoption, public enthusiasm and bug reports gave Bitcoin its first independent validation. His RPOW was a direct conceptual predecessor, and his 2009 tweet "Running bitcoin" is one of the most famous artifacts of early Bitcoin culture.
Profile
Cryptographer and long-time cypherpunk who created RPOW (Reusable Proofs of Work) in 2004. He was among the first to run the Bitcoin software and received the first-ever Bitcoin transaction — 10 BTC from Satoshi on 12 January 2009. He helped find early bugs and improve the client. He died in 2014 of ALS.