# Hal Finney ![[Pasted image 20210425220110.png]] First [[Bitcoin (blockchain)]] recipient (1HLoD9E4SDFFPDiYfNYnkBLQ85Y51J3Zb1) Born: May 4, 1956, Coalinga, California, United States Died: August 28, 2014, Scottsdale, Arizona, United States Nationality: American Education: California Institute of Technology (1979) ![[2021-04-25 22_05_31-Researcher Publishes Never Before Seen Emails Between Satoshi Nakamoto and Hal F.png]] Hal Finney was a software engineer and an early member of the [[Cypherpunks]]. Finney was a notable advocate of [[Cryptography|cryptography]] and digital privacy. He worked for the PGP Corporation, where he developed some of the earliest PGP code. He also built the first [[anonymous]] remailer, the first [[Proof of Work (PoW)]] based digital cash system, RPOW (Reusable Proofs of Work), and received the very first Bitcoin transaction sent by [[Satoshi Nakamoto]]. Hal died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in 2014 and was cryopreserved by the Alcor Life Extension Foundation.