On Friday, Sept. 6, bitcoiners around the world are vowing to run in memory of the late Hal Finney. Anyone is invited and dozens of the technology’s enthusiasts have already pledged to join.
Finney has long been touted as one of the first people to see the promise of bitcoin, long before it had a price and even ardent computer scientists weren’t quite sure if the decentralized money would really work in practice or not.
The computer scientist and noted cryptographer ultimately died in August 2014 after a battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurogenerative disease that eats away at neurons in the body, leading him to be stuck in a wheelchair for the last few years of his life.
Still, that isn’t stopping others from seeking to combine Finney’s passions to honor his legacy.
Team Satoshi, a group who wants people to raise awareness of bitcoin through sport, is throwing this event in his memory because he loved to run. Finney even left a trail of his final runs on Twitter. “Just got back from 11 mile run – really treasure each one now,” he tweeted on August 22nd, 2009.
His life partner Fran Finney later pointed out the message was sent just 17 days after he learned he had ALS. She tweeted two weeks later that Sept. 6, 2009 was his “last real run.”
Ten years later, bitcoin enthusiast Vitus Zeller is organizing this run in his memory, as a part of Team Satoshi. Just last week, he and several others ran, swam, and biked across Europe for bitcoin.
“I thought it would fit great as a bitcoin and cypherpunk community event to ask enthusiasts to join in for a run on the 10th anniversary of his last real run,” Zeller said.
Fran Finney told CoinDesk that she plans to participate as well.
“I am very touched by [the event]. I know Hal would be, too. I have so many wonderful memories of the two of us running!” she said, adding:
“I definitely plan to quietly and contemplatively go for a run on Sept. 6, on some of the trails we used to run together.”
Notably, bitcoin developer hire Matt Corallo and lightning developer Rene Pickhardt plan to participate, and a group of bitcoiners is meeting up at a lake in the capital of Switzerland for a 7 to 10km run.
During the event, people can follow along on Twitter and post photos of the run by using the #RunForHalFin hashtag.
Image via CoinDesk archives