Before #Bitcoin meant anything to the world, it meant something to two people who believed in it. The first transaction between #SatoshiNakamoto and #HalFinney still carries a quiet power. Artwork by Paul Milinski (@paul_milinski).
On January 12 2009, Bitcoin recorded its first transaction. One day earlier, Hal Finney had already made history by becoming the first person to ever tweet about Bitcoin. His simple message read: Running bitcoin.
A day later, his wallet received 10 BTC from #Satoshi. This was more than a symbolic gesture. It was the first verifiable proof that Bitcoin’s peer to peer network worked as intended.
Hal was the natural choice. He had responded quickly to Satoshi’s announcement on the #Cryptography Mailing List and had spun up his own node almost immediately. He became a close collaborator, emailing Satoshi, finding bugs and helping stabilise the young network.
At the time, the moment felt unremarkable. Two internet strangers were simply testing software and confirming that transactions could settle. Only later would the full significance become clear.
Hal later reflected on the experience. Bitcoin was so early that difficulty was 1. Blocks could be mined with a regular CPU. He mined several blocks but stopped because the computer ran hot and the fan noise was irritating. As he said: I wish I had kept it up longer, but I was extraordinarily lucky to be there at the beginning.
The first transaction showcases Bitcoin’s #UTXO model. Satoshi’s 50 BTC coinbase reward was split into two parts: 10 BTC sent to Hal and 40 BTC returned to Satoshi as a separate output. There were no network fees. No congestion. Just one input and two outputs. A clean, direct demonstration of Bitcoin working exactly as the Whitepaper described: a peer to peer electronic cash system.
Read the full article:
https://www.historyofbitcoin.io/timeline/first-signs-of-life
Artwork: First Signs of Life by Paul Milinski (@paul_milinsk over on Xi).
Appears in the History of Bitcoin
Collector’s Book and on our interactive timeline.
https://blossom.primal.net/04b0f326619c3e5bdbeb72c70cebb673452e7a5d308c21b623a0e541cf1a8576.mp4
