New “Running Bitcoin” charity to help with ALS research

Fran Finney, the wife of a deceased Bitcoin pioneer, Hal Finney, is organizing a special event to honor her husband. It will be called “Running Bitcoin,” named after his tweet from January 11^th, 2009. 

Running bitcoin

— halfin (@halfin) January 11, 2009

Bitcoin marathon

The Bitcoin community was very surprised by this announcement. Hal Finney was one of the early Bitcoin pioneers and Satoshi Nakamoto candidates, who passed away in 2014 after suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). At that time, Bitcoin wasn’t even mainstream yet. 

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This motivated his wife, Fran Finney, to organize the “Running Bitcoin” marathon, which will raise donations in Bitcoin for ALS research. It’s a half marathon that will take place between January 1^st and January 10^th.

“We are determined to find a cure for this devastating condition and any support you can provide will make a big difference,” Finney explained on Twitter. 

The goal is simple. As many people as possible should join, hopefully contributing to ALS research through BTC donations. The tweet has already been viewed by more than 2 million people in less than 24 hours. 

The charity plans to use the marathon to raise money, and in exchange for donations, they will give out official Running Bitcoin T-shirts and rare Hal Finney collectibles. Hal Finney is widely regarded as a cryptocurrency industry trailblazer. 

The system he developed in 2004 called Reusable Proof of Work (RPOW) allowed people to spend Hashcash coins multiple times. Although it relied on a centralized server rather than a decentralized network, RPOW is often considered a forerunner to modern cryptocurrencies. 

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In 2008 and 2009, before Bitcoin was released to the public in January 2009, Finney contributed code to the Bitcoin codebase. Moreover, Satoshi Nakamoto sent him 10 bitcoins in the first-ever Bitcoin transaction. Hal Finney used to be an enthusiastic runner, which explains his wife’s motivation for this marathon.