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The Twitter account of one of Bitcoin\u2019s greatest historical figures just came back to life after over a decade of inactivity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is Fran Finney,\u201d <\/span>tweeted<\/span><\/a> Hal Finney\u2019s Twitter handle, \u201chalfin,\u201d on Friday. \u201cI am tweeting for Hal to avoid his account being purged by Elon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Hal Finney is one of the earliest Bitcoin testers to corroborate with the network\u2019s anonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto<\/span><\/a>, in its early days. On January 12 2009, he <\/span>received<\/span><\/a> 10 Bitcoin from Satoshi\u2014the first Bitcoin transfer ever conducted. Indeed, many today within the Bitcoin community believe Finney likely <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> Satoshi\u2014or at least part of a group of developers behind the pseudonym.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finney passed away from a fatal disease in August 2014, leaving both him and Satoshi absent from Bitcoin\u2019s future development. As such, the Bitcoin faithful treat Finney\u2019s old messages, tweets, and forum posts as treasured artifacts\u2014as they do messages signed by Satoshi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One particularly popular message was his <\/span>announcement tweet<\/span><\/a> that he was \u201crunning Bitcoin\u201d on January 10, 2009. By <\/span>his own account<\/span><\/a>, he may have been the second person to run the software after Satoshi himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Naturally, the sudden revival of Finney\u2019s caught some by surprise. Jameson Lopp\u2014co-founder and CEO of Bitcoin security and wallet company Casa\u2014initially <\/span>suggested<\/span><\/a> the account may have been compromised after realizing it had recently followed his own Twitter account.<\/span><\/p>\n Others were quick to point out, however, that Finney\u2019s account may have been reactivated by someone who controls it to avoid it being \u201cpurged by Elon.\u201d Hal\u2019s wife, Fran Finney, <\/span>confirmed<\/span><\/a> herself that this was indeed the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts<\/p>\n \u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Since taking over Twitter, <\/span>Elon Musk<\/span><\/a> has <\/span>promised<\/span><\/a> to delete over 1.5 billion Twitter accounts in order to free up certain Twitter handles for newer, more active owners. \u201cThese are obvious account deletions with no tweets & no log-in for years,\u201d he said on December 9. His announcement sparked concern among Bitcoiners, who worried that such a policy could allow accounts like Finney\u2019s to fall through the cracks. After Fran reactivated the handle, the community was quick to offer thanks.<\/span><\/p>\n Thanks @franfinney<\/a> for keeping Hal’s account alive. It means so much to the #Bitcoin<\/a> community. You both are legends 🧡🧡🧡<\/p>\n \u2014 HODL never SODL \u4e30 🇸🇻 🇨🇫 🇵🇦 (@HODLneverSODL) December 16, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Finney was a cypherpunk\u2014meaning he believed in using cryptography to guarantee freedom and privacy for all. He also lived in the same town as Dorian Nakamoto, the man <\/span>Newsweek<\/span><\/i> very famously and very incorrectly said was Satoshi, for about 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, Finney <\/span>denied<\/span><\/a> claims he was the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin before his passing\u2014exactly the sort of thing Satoshi would do.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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