DID YOU KNOW: The First Man To Receive Bitcoin from Satoshi, Has His Body Frozen In Ice?
In 2014, Hal Finney, a prominent computer scientist and the first person to ever receive a Bitcoin transaction, was legally declared dead and subsequently cryopreserved. Finney was a lead developer at PGP Corporation and an early contributor to the Bitcoin code.
On August 28, 2014, Finney died in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 58 due to complications from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Immediately after his legal death, a standby team from the Alcor Life Extension Foundation began a process called vitrification. This involved circulating chemicals through his body to replace water and prevent the formation of ice crystals, which can damage cells during freezing.
His body was then gradually cooled to -196°C. He remains stored in a large vacuum flask, known as a dewar, filled with liquid nitrogen at Alcor’s facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Finney is recorded as the foundation’s 128th patient.
Finney was diagnosed with ALS in 2009, the same year he helped launch the Bitcoin network. As the disease progressed and he lost muscle control, he continued to write code using eye-tracking software.
He had been a member of Alcor for over 20 years prior to his death. His decision to pursue cryopreservation was based on his interest in transhumanism—the belief that technology can eventually evolve to solve human biological limitations. He hoped that future medical advancements would be able to cure ALS and repair the cellular damage associated with both the disease and the preservation process.
Finney’s case is notable because of his foundational role in digital currency. Some of the costs for his preservation were covered by Bitcoin donations from the cryptocurrency community.
Within the technology world, his preservation is often discussed as a practical application of his lifelong interest in the future. He remains in suspended animation today, maintained by the foundation until such time as medical technology might allow for his potential revival.
In 2014, Hal Finney, a prominent computer scientist and the first person to ever receive a Bitcoin transaction, was legally declared dead and subsequently cryopreserved. Finney was a lead developer at PGP Corporation and an early contributor to the Bitcoin code.
On August 28, 2014, Finney died in Phoenix, Arizona, at the age of 58 due to complications from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Immediately after his legal death, a standby team from the Alcor Life Extension Foundation began a process called vitrification. This involved circulating chemicals through his body to replace water and prevent the formation of ice crystals, which can damage cells during freezing.
His body was then gradually cooled to -196°C. He remains stored in a large vacuum flask, known as a dewar, filled with liquid nitrogen at Alcor’s facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Finney is recorded as the foundation’s 128th patient.
Finney was diagnosed with ALS in 2009, the same year he helped launch the Bitcoin network. As the disease progressed and he lost muscle control, he continued to write code using eye-tracking software.
He had been a member of Alcor for over 20 years prior to his death. His decision to pursue cryopreservation was based on his interest in transhumanism—the belief that technology can eventually evolve to solve human biological limitations. He hoped that future medical advancements would be able to cure ALS and repair the cellular damage associated with both the disease and the preservation process.
Finney’s case is notable because of his foundational role in digital currency. Some of the costs for his preservation were covered by Bitcoin donations from the cryptocurrency community.
Within the technology world, his preservation is often discussed as a practical application of his lifelong interest in the future. He remains in suspended animation today, maintained by the foundation until such time as medical technology might allow for his potential revival.
