12.01 marks the 12th anniversary of the first Bitcoin transaction. Its recipient was cryptographer Hal Finney, to whom Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC.
The transaction was made 9 days after the creation of the first block and three days after the start of mining. In 2009, Finney wrote on the Bitcointalk forum that he mined the “70-something” block and became a participant in the first test transaction on the Bitcoin network. Finney made the first ever tweet regarding the first blockchain and cryptoasset: “Launching Bitcoin.”
It was this successful transaction that proved the performance of the Bitcoin network and laid the foundation for its further development. At that time, these 10 BTC cost almost nothing, and now the cost of one coin hovers around $ 35,000. On January 8, 2020, Bitcoin reached another all-time high of about $ 42,000. Even 12 years later, Bitcoin ranks first in terms of market capitalization among all cryptocurrencies.
Finney is known not only as the first recipient of bitcoins, but also as one of the first miners. Finney was actively involved in the creation of the first cryptocurrency. Therefore, some members of the cryptocurrency community still adhere to the version that Finney himself was hiding under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The cryptographer was one of the first to predict the bitcoin price. In his email to Nakamoto, Finney suggested that when the 21 million bitcoins were issued, the value of 1 BTC would be $ 10 million.
In 2009, Finney was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which led to his paralysis, and on August 28, 2014, the famous programmer died. His body was cryopreserved with the help of the Extension Alcor Life Foundation in the hope that Finney’s brain could be revitalized in the future.
As a reminder, the book “Kicking the Hornet’s Nest” was released in the US last month, containing all of Satoshi Nakamoto’s emails and forum posts in chronological order.
