Bitcoin OG Hal Finney Passes Away
Hal Finney succumbed to ALS August 28th, 2014 after a 5-year battle with the disease. He lived for ten years in the same town as Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, interestingly. By March 2013, ALS had handicapped Hal, as he explained in a thread on BitcoinTalk.
“When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away,” Finney wrote. “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 mined bitcoins with CPUs before GPU miners were required. The noise of mining bothered Hal, and made his computer run hot, and so he stopped. Doctors diagnosed Hal in 2009.
“I was in the best shape of my life at the start of that year, I’d lost a lot of weight and taken up distance running,” he wrote on BitcoinTalk. “I’d run several half marathons, and I was starting to train for a full marathon. I worked my way up to 20+ mile runs, and I thought I was all set. That’s when everything went wrong.”
He added: “My body began to fail. I slurred my speech, lost strength in my hands, and my legs were slow to recover. In August, 2009, I was given the diagnosis of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the famous baseball player who got it.”
Hal remains a central figure in the history of Bitcoin. Hal continued to program, despite his paralysis, until he passed away. He was working on software called bcflick, which used Trusted Computing to strengthen Bitcoin wallets.
The CFPB Issues A Warning To Consumers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued in August a consumer advisory warning the public about the risks of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, citing unclear costs, volatile exchange rates, the threat of hacking and scams, and the inability for refunds. Consumers who encountered a problem could submit a complaint with the Bureau.
“Virtual currencies may have potential benefits, but consumers need to be cautious and they need to be asking the right questions,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Virtual currencies are not backed by any government or central bank, and at this point consumers are stepping into the Wild West when they engage in the market.”
Overstock, TigerDirect, Dell, Etc. Begin Accepting Bitcoin
Overstock became the first major U.S. retailer to accept Bitcoin. Byrne tweeted that, after 21 hours on Overstock.com, 780 bitcoin orders had accounted for $124,000 in sales.
“We believe that Bitcoin is nearing a tipping point for broad consumer adoption,” Coinbase wrote in a blog post. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the team at Overstock.com to help make that a reality.”
Having also partnered with Coinbase, Dell.com began piloting Bitcoin acceptance. It had already been possible to purchase Dell.com gift cards through Gyft, where you could buy and send gift cards online.
“We’ve fostered a close partnership with the Dell team and that’s been instrumental in getting the Coinbase integration up and running in such a short timeframe. We look forward to continuing to support the team as they explore other ways to offer even more functionality when it comes to bitcoin payments,” said Fred Ehrsam, Co-Founder of Coinbase.
By 2017, however, Dell.com stopped accepting Bitcoin payments due to a lack of demand. TigerDirect began in January accepting bitcoins, though had some time thereafter removed the payment option.
Newegg began in July accepting Bitcoin. “Adopting bitcoin as a payment method is another way we’re responding to our customers’ diverse needs,” said Soren Mills, Chief Marketing Officer for Newegg North America. “Working with BitPay to implement a bitcoin payment option at Newegg was a seamless process and our partnership gives us the capabilities we require for high-volume e-commerce.”
North Carolina-based REEDS Jewelers began in June accepting bitcoins. With 64 retail locations at the time, the company, which had been in business since 1946, used Coinbase as its payment processors, and customers could pay with bitcoin both in-person and online.
That’s 2014 in review. Read about 2015 here.
Hal Finney succumbed to ALS August 28th, 2014 after a 5-year battle with the disease. He lived for ten years in the same town as Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, interestingly. By March 2013, ALS had handicapped Hal, as he explained in a thread on BitcoinTalk.
“When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away,” Finney wrote. “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 mined bitcoins with CPUs before GPU miners were required. The noise of mining bothered Hal, and made his computer run hot, and so he stopped. Doctors diagnosed Hal in 2009.
“I was in the best shape of my life at the start of that year, I’d lost a lot of weight and taken up distance running,” he wrote on BitcoinTalk. “I’d run several half marathons, and I was starting to train for a full marathon. I worked my way up to 20+ mile runs, and I thought I was all set. That’s when everything went wrong.”
He added: “My body began to fail. I slurred my speech, lost strength in my hands, and my legs were slow to recover. In August, 2009, I was given the diagnosis of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the famous baseball player who got it.”
Hal remains a central figure in the history of Bitcoin. Hal continued to program, despite his paralysis, until he passed away. He was working on software called bcflick, which used Trusted Computing to strengthen Bitcoin wallets.
The CFPB Issues A Warning To Consumers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued in August a consumer advisory warning the public about the risks of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, citing unclear costs, volatile exchange rates, the threat of hacking and scams, and the inability for refunds. Consumers who encountered a problem could submit a complaint with the Bureau.
“Virtual currencies may have potential benefits, but consumers need to be cautious and they need to be asking the right questions,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. “Virtual currencies are not backed by any government or central bank, and at this point consumers are stepping into the Wild West when they engage in the market.”
Overstock, TigerDirect, Dell, Etc. Begin Accepting Bitcoin
Overstock became the first major U.S. retailer to accept Bitcoin. Byrne tweeted that, after 21 hours on Overstock.com, 780 bitcoin orders had accounted for $124,000 in sales.
“We believe that Bitcoin is nearing a tipping point for broad consumer adoption,” Coinbase wrote in a blog post. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the team at Overstock.com to help make that a reality.”
Having also partnered with Coinbase, Dell.com began piloting Bitcoin acceptance. It had already been possible to purchase Dell.com gift cards through Gyft, where you could buy and send gift cards online.
“We’ve fostered a close partnership with the Dell team and that’s been instrumental in getting the Coinbase integration up and running in such a short timeframe. We look forward to continuing to support the team as they explore other ways to offer even more functionality when it comes to bitcoin payments,” said Fred Ehrsam, Co-Founder of Coinbase.
By 2017, however, Dell.com stopped accepting Bitcoin payments due to a lack of demand. TigerDirect began in January accepting bitcoins, though had some time thereafter removed the payment option.
Newegg began in July accepting Bitcoin. “Adopting bitcoin as a payment method is another way we’re responding to our customers’ diverse needs,” said Soren Mills, Chief Marketing Officer for Newegg North America. “Working with BitPay to implement a bitcoin payment option at Newegg was a seamless process and our partnership gives us the capabilities we require for high-volume e-commerce.”
North Carolina-based REEDS Jewelers began in June accepting bitcoins. With 64 retail locations at the time, the company, which had been in business since 1946, used Coinbase as its payment processors, and customers could pay with bitcoin both in-person and online.
That’s 2014 in review. Read about 2015 here.
