Bitcoin Pioneer Hal Finney Cryogenically Frozen After Losing Battle With ALS

Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney, widely accredited as the number-two developer behind Satoshi Nakamoto on the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, has passed away following a five year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Finney died on Thursday at the age of 58 after complications resulting from his condition and is to reportedly have his body cryogenically frozen and stored in the hope of one day being revived in the future.

In 2008, one year before he was diagnosed with ALS, Finney was the recipient of the world's first bitcoin transaction after coming across the technology on a cryptography forum online.

"Bitcoin seems to be a very promising idea," Finney said at the time. "I like the idea of basing security on the assumption that the CPU power of honest participants outweighs that of the attacker.

"When Wikipedia started I never thought it would work, but it has proven to be a great success for some of the same reasons."

Within five years of writing this, bitcoin's market capitalisation was over $10 billion (£6bn) and it had irreversibly disrupted the global financial and economic status quo.

Cyropreservation

Before his death, Finney requested that his body be frozen and stored with the cyronics firm Alcor Life Extension Foundation.

His body will now be stored in a 10-foot tall tank filled with 450 litres of liquid nitrogen, according to Wired magazine, having had all of his blood and other bodily fluids removed from his body.

"That's where he'll remain until such time as we have technologies to repair the problems he had such as ALS and the aging process," Max More, Alcor's director, told the publication.

"And then we can bring Hal back happy and whole again."