Below is the dream behind the code, and the human heart behind cryptography. The birth of cryptocurrency ultimately stems from a group of people’s obsession with a better world.

On January 11, 2009, a tweet was born: "Running Bitcoin." Just a few words, but it changed history. The person who posted this tweet was Hal Finney, who did something seemingly ordinary but forever recorded in history — becoming the recipient of Bitcoin’s first transaction. Satoshi Nakamoto directly sent him 10 BTC the next day. Thus, virtual assets transitioned from theory to reality.

Regarding Satoshi Nakamoto’s identity, the world has many opinions. But one thing is beyond doubt: without Finney, Bitcoin might have remained just a concept in cryptography papers and never become the force that today shakes the financial landscape.

Finney passed away in 2014 due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but his spiritual legacy never faded. His life is like a living cyberpunk manifesto — from early work in privacy software development to continuing to contribute code using eye-tracking technology despite gradually becoming paralyzed. Every detail was embedded in Bitcoin’s DNA.

Rewind to May 4, 1956, in a place called Colinga, California, where Harold Thomas Finney II was born. From a young age, he showed extraordinary talent in mathematics and computing. In 1979, he graduated from Caltech with an engineering degree and immediately plunged into the wave of the video game industry.

This transformation — from game engineer to cryptopunk pioneer — laid the foundation for his key role in the cryptocurrency field.