Hal Finney (cypherpunk)
| Hal Finney | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Harold Thomas Finney II May 4, 1956 Coalinga, California |
| Died | August 28, 2014 (aged 58) Phoenix, Arizona |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology (B.S., Engineering, 1979) |
| Known for | Reusable proof-of-work system First Bitcoin recipient |
| Spouse(s) | Fran Finney |
Harold Thomas Finney II (May 4, 1956 – August 28, 2014) was a developer for PGP Corporation, and was the second developer hired after Phil Zimmermann. In his early career, he was credited as lead developer on several console games. He also was an early bitcoin user and received the first bitcoin transaction from bitcoin's creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Finney was born in Coalinga, California, in 1956. He went on to attend the California Institute of Technology, graduating with a BS in engineering in 1981.
After graduation from Caltech, he went to work in the computer gaming field for a company that developed video games such as Adventures of Tron, Armor Ambush, Astroblast and Space Attack. He later went to work for the PGP Corporation with whom he remained until his retirement in 2011.
Finney was a noted cryptographic activist. During the early 1990s, in addition to being a regular poster on the cypherpunks listserv, Finney ran two anonymous remailers. Further cryptographic activism included running a (successful) contest to break the export-grade encryption Netscape used.
In 2004, Finney created the first reusable proof of work system before bitcoin. In January 2009, Finney was the bitcoin network's first transaction recipient.
Finney was a cypherpunk and said:
""It seemed so obvious to me;" "Here we are faced with the problems of loss of privacy, creeping computerization, massive databases, more centralization - and Chaum offers a completely different direction to go in, one which puts power into the hands of individuals rather than governments and corporations. The computer can be used as a tool to liberate and protect people, rather than to control them.""
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Wikipedia