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Fran Finney, the wife of computer scientist Hal Finney \u2014 the recipient of the first transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain from Satoshi Nakamoto \u2014 reactivated her late husband\u2019s Twitter account amid concerns Twitter CEO Elon Musk might purge the content from the social media platform due to inactivity.<\/p>\n
Many Crypto Twitter users reported on Dec. 16 that Finney\u2019s account registered<\/a> activity for the first time in more than 12 years. Some speculated that a hacker might have taken control of the Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) pioneer\u2019s account and it\u2019s more than 71,000 followers, but Fran quickly stepped in to dispel rumors.<\/p>\n \u201cI am tweeting for Hal […] to avoid his account being purged by Elon,\u201d said<\/a> Fran. <\/p>\n I want to keep Hal’s account active, and occasionally will be posting from his account. When I do post, I will continue to tag myself as the poster.<\/p>\n \u2014 Fran Finney (@franfinney) December 16, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s unclear whether Fran Finney\u2019s intervention may save the crypto pioneer\u2019s social media presence. Amid Musk\u2019s $44-billion purchase<\/a> of Twitter which was completed in October, he claimed<\/a> he backed free speech as \u201cthe bedrock of a functioning democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n However, under Musk\u2019s leadership, the social media platform on Dec. 15 purged a number of accounts controlled by high-profile journalists at institutions including CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Accounts tracking the movements of Musk\u2019s private flights as well as promoting social networking platform Mastodon \u2014 which has attracted many Twitter users following the billionaire\u2019s takeover \u2014 were also suspended. The Twitter CEO claimed<\/a> the former \u201cdoxxed my exact location in real-time.\u201d<\/p>\n Why have journalists had their Twitter accounts suspended? Please explain. And it had better be a GOOD explanation.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stephen King (@StephenKing) December 16, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Musk had a net worth of more than $300 billion in October 2021 before the acquisition of Twitter, and around the same time, the price of Tesla stock reached an all-time high of $407.36 in November 2021. In roughly a year, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed<\/a> that the Tesla CEO had dropped to the second richest person on the planet, with a reported net worth of $169 billion at the time of publication.<\/p>\n As CEO, Musk oversaw a number of controversial decisions<\/a> at Twitter that had many in the business world questioning his acumen. He fired many top executives, including many members of the platform\u2019s content moderation team, and attempted to charge users for \u201cverified\u201d blue check marks \u2014 leading to many fake accounts with a veneer of legitimacy. The social media platform also saw a spike in tweets containing hate speech and vaccine misinformation, putting revenue from advertisers at risk.<\/p>\n Twitter users seemed to largely support Fran Finney\u2019s efforts to show the account was still active and beneficial to the crypto community. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also chimed<\/a> in on the platform to express his surprise over the account\u2019s reactivation. <\/p>\n \u201cThere should be a way of safeguarding accounts of historical significance,\u201d said<\/a> Twitter user 0xAphelion on Hal Finney\u2019s account. \u201cBut better to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: <\/em><\/strong>Crypto spam bots go silent as Musk promises to prosecute scammers<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Hal Finney was one of the most well known names in the crypto space, having been one of the first people to respond to Satoshi\u2019s post<\/a> on the cypherpunks mailing list. He passed away from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis \u2014 ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease \u2014 in 2014 at the age of 58. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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