Hal Finney wrote history when he became the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction in the world. Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous inventor behind Bitcoin, sent him these coins personally. That was not the only contribution to Bitcoin Hal Finney made in his life. In fact, he did much more than that, but sadly passed away in 2014 suffering from ALS.

What is “Running Bitcoin” and how can anybody in the world participate and join the fight against a vicious disease?

The first Bitcoin recipient

Harold Thomas Finney II was born on May 4, 1956. The American software developer was one of the first persons in the world that recognized the potential of Bitcoin as a technology. He believed that computer technology should be used to liberate and empower people to protect their privacy, rather than turning them into fully transparent beings.

Hal Finney was not only the first recipient of a Bitcoin transaction on January 12, 2009, but also highly active as a Bitcoin developer. Because of his status of being the first person that ever received a transaction and the fact, that he was involved early in the development of Bitcoin, it was rumored that he was, in fact, behind the invention. Finney always denied those claims, and there is no conclusive proof that he and Nakamoto were the same person.

Finney knew that he was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease that results in complete paralysis and severely reduced life expectancy. Since he was an active runner, he and his wife raised money to research ALS together with the Santa Barbara International Marathon before ALS changed his life. On August 28, 2014, Hal Finney lost the fight with ALS. A fight that still continues for others.

Running Bitcoin: Everybody can contribute

Recently, Fran Finney took over the Twitter account of her husband to prevent it from being deleted. She reminded the community of the Running Bitcoin event that is held in honor of Hal Finney between January 1-10, 2023.

Participants are encouraged to run, walk, hike or roll a half-marathon (21 km) which was Hal’s favorite running distance within the 10 days period. Runners are also encouraged to share their progress via social media, tell others about Bitcoin along the way, and receive a T-Shirt for a minimum Bitcoin donation worth $100.

The proceeds of the donations will provide funding to the ALS Association Golden West Chapter that is working to discover treatments and a cure for ALS.