The
Human
Rights
Foundation
has
announced
that
computer
scientist
and
privacy
advocate
Hal
Finney,
who
played
a
role
in
getting
Bitcoin
going
15
years
ago,
will
posthumously
be
the
first
recipient
of
an
award
named
in
his
honor.
This
roundup
is
part
of
CoinDesk’s
“Future
of
Bitcoin”
package.
Fran
Finney,
his
widow,
will
accept
the
inaugural
Finney
Freedom
Prize
on
Hal’s
behalf
and
plans
to
donate
the
monetary
prize
of
1
bitcoin
(BTC)
to
a
yet-unnamed
charity.
Hal
Finney
died
in
2014
due
to
complications
from
amyotrophic
lateral
sclerosis,
or
ALS.
HRF
Chief
Strategy
Officer
Alex
Gladstein
said
the
award
is
meant
to
honor
those
who
make
vital
contributions
to
Bitcoin.
“Obviously
we
can’t
give
it
to
Satoshi.
So,
beyond
that,
it’s
Hal.
No
one
even
comes
close
to
his
contributions,”
Gladstein
told
CoinDesk
in
an
interview.
“He
coded
until
his
last
days.
I
mean,
he
literally
contributed
to
human
freedom
until
his
muscles
didn’t
cooperate
anymore.”
Read
more:
Who
Is
Satoshi
Nakamoto?
“Hal
would
have
been
thrilled
to
see
how
this
Bitcoin
ecosystem
has
grown,
and
to
learn
that
this
once-obscure
software
project
is
now
used
by
tens
of
millions
of
people
worldwide,”
Fran
Finney
said
in
a
pre-recorded
acceptance
speech.
“He
would
be
honored
to
be
the
first
recipient
of
this
award,
and
humbled
to
have
it
be
in
his
name.
I
feel
great
privilege
and
responsibility
in
accepting
the
first
prize
on
his
behalf.”
The
Human
Rights
Foundation
has
set
aside
an
additional
32
bitcoin,
worth
over
$2
million
at
current
prices,
out
of
its
own
treasury
to
make
awards
well
into
the
future.
“Our
view
is
that
in
40
years,
it’ll
probably
be
the
world’s
largest
cash
prize,”
Gladstein
said.
For
the
next
three
years,
the
foundation
will
name
a
new
laureate
on
Jan.
10,
also
known
as
“Running
Bitcoin
Day,”
or
the
day
Hal
Finney
posted
on
Twitter
(now
X)
about
becoming
the
first
person
besides
Satoshi
Nakamoto
to
download
the
Bitcoin
software.
After
that,
the
awards
will
be
handed
out
to
coincide
with
Bitcoin
halvings,
approximately
every
four
years.
(The
next
one
happens
in
a
few
hours
from
press
time.)
The
first
four
awards,
including
Finney’s,
are
meant
specifically
to
retroactively
reward
those
who
made
the
biggest
contributions
to
Bitcoin
within
the
periods
between
each
of
the
first
four
halvings:
2009-2012
(Finney),
2012-2016,
2016-2020
and
2020-2024.
After
that,
the
prize
will
go
to
those
who
contribute
most
in
the
intervening
four
years.
A
“Genesis
Committee”
of
seven
individuals
–
including
“The
Genesis
Book”
author
Aaron
van
Wirdum,
Africa
Bitcoin
Conference
founder
Farida
Nabourema,
Bitcoin
Core
dev
Gloria
Zhao,
bitcoin++
and
Base58
co-founder
Lisa
Neigut,
Fedi
founder
Obi
Nwosu,
Stone
Ridge
Holdings
CEO
Ross
Stevens
and
Running
Bitcoin
Challenge
co-founder
Vitus
Zeller
–
was
picked
to
lead
the
nomination
process
until
2028.
Committee
members
will
then
nominate
their
successor,
who
will
serve
a
four-year
term.
“This
is
a
prize
that
will
outlast
us
all,”
Gladstein
said,
noting
that
the
last
Bitcoin
halving
will
take
place
sometime
in
the
next
century.
“Hopefully
we
can
have
some
kind
of
intellectual
lineage
here
going
through
the
decades.
The
first
seven
are
only
going
to
choose
somebody
who
they
really
feel
embodies
their
ideals
so
hopefully
you
get
a
committee
in
100
years
that’s
somewhat
reflective
of
the
initial
committee.”
Who
is
Hal
Finney?
Even
if
Hal
Finney
had
never
discovered
Bitcoin
on
the
Cypherpunk
Mailing
List,
becoming
the
first
person
to
receive
a
bitcoin
transaction
and
contribute
code
to
the
project,
it’s
likely
he
would
be
remembered
by
the
Bitcoin
community
for
his
many
contributions
to
cryptography
and
his
privacy
advocacy
A
graduate
of
the
California
Institute
of
Technology,
Finney
began
to
make
contributions
to
foundational
cryptographic
communications
tool
Pretty
Good
Privacy
(better
known
as
PGP)
in
the
early
1990s,
before
working
for
the
PGP
Corp.
directly
until
retirement.
The
program
remains
one
of
the
best
ways
to
encrypt
online
communications.
“The
work
we
are
doing
here,
broadly
speaking,
is
dedicated
to
this
goal
of
making
Big
Brother
obsolete,”
he
wrote
to
a
group
of
cryptographers,
at
a
time
when
the
U.S.
government
was
looking
to
limit
the
public’s
access
to
strong
encryption.
Finney’s
work
on
PGP
led
to
his
interest
in
digital
currencies,
which
he
thought
could
better
protect
people’s
privacy
than
the
emerging
payment
options
like
credit
cards
that
were
beginning
to
dominate
(and
still
dominate)
the
web.
In
2004,
Finney
created
a
prototype
digital
asset
that
reusable
proof-of-work
system,
which
although
it
didn’t
catch
on,
went
on
to
directly
inspire
Bitcoin.
See
also:
Bitcoin
and
the
Rise
of
the
Cypherpunks
Four
years
later,
when
Satoshi
unveiled
the
Bitcoin
white
paper,
Finney
was
one
of
a
few
people
who
took
notice.
He
responded
on
Satoshi’s
announcement
post
on
the
cryptography
mailing
list
that
he
looked
forward
to
seeing
how
the
concept
would
be
developed
and
was
offered
early
access
to
the
project
source
code.
Between
2009
and
2013,
when
Finney
announced
he
was
paralyzed
on
the
BitcoinTalk
forum,
he
made
several
key
contributions
to
the
Bitcoin
software.
Throughout
his
life
he
was
a
frequent
marathon
runner,
alongside
his
wife
Fran.
In
a
2009
Less
Wrong
blog
post,
Finney
wrote
“my
dream
is
to
contribute
to
open
source
software
projects
even
from
within
an
immobile
body.”
There
are
some
who
believe
that
Finney
is
Satoshi,
or
a
possible
contributor
to
a
group
that
referred
to
itself
under
the
collective
name.
A
recent
post
by
Bitcoin
OG
Jameson
Lopp
disputes
this
claim,
after
reviewing
timestamps
that
show
Finney
was
often
probably
elsewhere
while
Satoshi
was
online.
Finney
himself
denied
that
he
was
Satoshi
Nakamoto.
“We
wanted
to
do
the
prize
not
just
to
honor
Hal’s
contributions
to
Bitcoin,
but
digital
privacy
and
freedom
generally,”
Gladstein
said.
“It
is
something
that
is
very
important
to
us.”
