Although the mystery of the person or people behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, has not been solved to this day, new evidence sheds light on one of the most popular theories. Could Hal Finney, a cryptocurrency pioneer, have been the person responsible for the birth of Bitcoin?
For years, there were speculations that the late Hal Finney, a computer scientist, was the creator of Bitcoin. He was the first person, aside from Satoshi, to download and run the Bitcoin software, as well as the first recipient of Bitcoin. Until the end of his life in 2014, however, Finney denied this theory.
Jameson Lopp, known as a cypherpunk and co-founder of a company dealing with Bitcoin security named Casa, also questions this hypothesis. He recently presented new evidence that further undermines this theory.
Hal Finney was a legendary Cypherpunk, but he was not Satoshi.
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) October 21, 2023
Today I present my research to support that claim.https://t.co/gZVQv3QW0B
The key to understanding is a 10-mile race in Santa Barbara, California, which took place on Saturday, April 18, 2009. According to data from this event, Finney was one of the participants in the race, which started at 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time and ended 78 minutes later. At the exact same time, there was an email exchange between Satoshi and one of the early Bitcoin developers, Mike Hearn. “Based on all this data, we can conclude that Satoshi sent an email to Mike at 9:16 AM, which is two minutes before Hal crossed the finish line,” Lopp notes.
Lopp also highlights transaction data that further supports his thesis. Nakamoto sent Hearn 32.5 BTC in one transaction. Lopp points to this transaction, which occurred in block 11,408, mined at 8:55 AM — 55 minutes after Finney started the race.
The analysis also showed that Satoshi was working on the code and posting on various forums at a time when Hal Finney was struggling with ALS, affecting his ability to type.
However, Lopp admits that there might be objections to the presented evidence. After all, Finney could have programmed the emails and transactions in advance, and Satoshi Nakamoto might be a collective pseudonym for several people.
However, the analyst believes that one developer is behind the creation of Bitcoin: “Throughout my research into Satoshi, I have not encountered evidence suggesting that it was a team,” he claims.
Will we ever know the truth about who was the cryptocurrency pioneer? Hal Finney passed away in August 2014 due to complications related to ALS. The mystery has not been solved to this day.
Photo by Tiberiu Popa on Unsplash
