First Bitcoin (BTC) Transaction Was Made 11 Years Ago by Satoshi. What Was Its Purpose?
The first Bitcoin transaction between Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, and computer programmer Hal Finney happened on Jan. 12, 2009, which was exactly 11 years ago. Finney received 10 BTC (around $81,000 at the time of writing) as a test.
"When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away. I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin. I mined block 70-something, and I was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction, when Satoshi sent ten coins to me as a test. I carried on an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days, mostly me reporting bugs and him fixing them," Finney described his experience in a forum post.
Alex Dovbnya"Running Bitcoin"
The first BTC transaction in history came just one day after Finney posted his already historic "Running Bitcoin" tweet on Jan. 11, 2009.
Running bitcoin
— halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009
As reported by U.Today, the first Bitcoin mention on Twitter could be soon deleted due to a new policy implemented by the social media juggernaut. All tweets posted by accounts that show no signs of activity for more than six months will be removed.
Finney passed away in 2014 at the age of 58 after losing his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His last tweet was published back in 2010. He wrote that he was comfortable with his legacy in 2014.
"My bitcoins are stored in our safe deposit box, and my son and daughter are tech savvy. I think they’re safe enough. I’m comfortable with my legacy.”
The real Satoshi?
More than a decade after the creation of Bitcoin, the debate about the real identity of Satoshi lives on. There are numerous facts that point to Finney being the real BTC creator. Apart from being a prominent cyberpunk who expressed the same views as Satoshi and received the first BTC transaction, he also lived on down the street with Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, the man who was erroneously identified as the real Satoshi by a Newsweek article.
However, when Forbes reporter Andy Greenberg directly asked Finney whether he was the real Satoshi, the latter vehemently denied his claim. At this point, he was already paralyzed, so there is a good chance that he simply didn't want to be disturbed by excessive media attention.
$10 mln per coin
Finney estimated that BTC could be worth about $10 mln per coin if it were to become the dominant payment system. Blockstream CEO Adam Back, who was cited in the Bitcoin white paper, claims that such a huge price target could be closer than it sounds due to the growth of the USD inflation. The price of the top cryptocurrency could be 10 mln "in a decade or two" due to "monetary craziness."
It's closer than it sounds as along the path of hyperbitcoinization, the USD inflation rises, eg aided by Modern Monetary Theory rationale for high inflation, so $1 becomes worth say 10c over a decade or two of monetary craziness, then $10mil/BTC is $1mil/BTC in today's money.
— Adam Back (@adam3us) January 11, 2020
Is this a realistic target? Share your take in the comments!
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