Exactly 15 years ago today, Hal Finney tweeted that he was โRunning bitcoinโ.
This was the ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต time that #Bitcoin would be mentioned on Twitter, shortly after Hal started running the Bitcoin protocol on his computer. He was the first person to do so, other than Satoshi Nakamoto.
And no, itโs ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ unlikely that Hal Finney was Satoshi Nakamoto. Recently, evidence has come to light in the form of a timestamped email conversation between Satoshi and Mike Hearn, which show they were sent ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ.
This, along with Halโs repeated denials of being Satoshi, his reputation for ๐ต๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐, and his coding style being *notably different* from Satoshiโs, make it ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐๐ต๐ถ.
Today, untold thousands are running Bitcoin on their personal computers, just like Hal. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ, and improves the robustness of a money that enables individual empowerment for all who use it.
๐ง๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐น, ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฟ๐๐ป๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐๐ฐ๐ผ๐ถ๐ป. Had you not chosen to assist Satoshi Nakamoto when no one else would, we may not be where we are today.๐งก
