There has been some speculation over the years about whether the late software developer, Hal Finney, was actually Satoshi Nakamoto. Some people wonder if he had any connection to the 700,000 bitcoins mined back in the earliest days of the protocol. Finney was an Extropian, or a person who believes in the philosophy of futurism and life extension. In fact, the developer arranged to have himself cryopreserved in the hope that someday scientists might figure out a way to revive his brain and answer some of the questions surrounding Bitcoin’s early days.
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Finney the Frozen Crypto-Genius
Back when the Bitcoin software was first launched, Finney — a well-known PGP Corp. developer and computer scientist — received the very first bitcoin transaction. He also helped Satoshi get the network up and running during Bitcoin’s first year. The programmer worked with the creator and other software developers up until he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Some people believe Finney may have been the creator of Bitcoin himself, by simply pretending to be Satoshi on the side.
Running bitcoin
— halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009
For instance, back in 2014, Andy Greenberg, a well-known tech journalist for Wired, wrote a story on why he believed Finney may have been Nakamoto, or was at least a person with significant ties to the inventor of Bitcoin. Other people believe in the “Satoshi Nakamoto group theory,” as they claim that the extensive knowledge Finney had about the some of the earliest coins that were mined suggests that Satoshi was actually more than one individual. But more interestingly, in the future there is a chance scientists could discover bitcoin keys in
