原作：Hal Finney ·
英文全文 · 中文翻译：SATONAMO。译文保留原作写作时的叙述语境。
中文全文
我想写一写过去这四年——对比特币和我来说，这都是一段发生了很多事情的时光。
给还不认识我的人介绍一下：我是 Hal Finney。我最初进入密码学领域，是参与 PGP 的早期版本开发，与 Phil Zimmermann 密切合作。Phil 决定成立 PGP 公司时，我是最早受聘的员工之一。此后我一直从事 PGP 的工作，直到退休。与此同时，我也参与了密码朋克社群。除了其他活动，我还运行了第一个基于密码学的匿名邮件转发服务。
时间快进到 2008 年末，比特币问世了。我注意到，密码学界的老家伙们（那时我五十多岁）往往容易变得愤世嫉俗。我则更理想主义一些；我一直热爱密码学，热爱它的神秘与悖论。
中本聪在密码学邮件列表上宣布比特币时，得到的回应充其量也只是将信将疑。密码学家见过太多由不懂行的新手提出的宏大方案，往往会下意识地产生抵触。
我比较乐观。我长期以来一直对基于密码学的支付方案感兴趣。而且，我很幸运，既结识了 Wei Dai 和 Nick Szabo，也与他们有过大量通信。人们普遍认为，他们提出的一些理念后来在比特币中得到了实现。我自己也曾尝试创建一种基于工作量证明的货币，名为 RPOW。因此，我觉得比特币很迷人。
中本聪宣布软件的第一个版本发布时，我马上就下载了。我想，我可能是除中本聪之外第一个运行比特币的人。我挖出了第七十几号区块，也是第一笔比特币交易的接收者——中本聪给我发送了十枚币作为测试。接下来的几天里，我一直与中本聪通过电子邮件交流，主要是我报告错误，他修复错误。
如今，中本聪的真实身份已成了一个谜。但在当时，我以为与我打交道的是一位有日本血统的年轻男子，非常聪明，也很真诚。我一生中有幸结识过许多才华出众的人，所以我认得出这些特质。
几天后，比特币已经运行得相当稳定，我就让它继续运行。那时难度是 1，用 CPU 就能找到区块，连 GPU 都不需要。接下来的几天，我又挖出了几个区块。但后来我把它关了，因为它让电脑发热，风扇的噪声也让我心烦。回头看，我希望自己当时能多运行一阵子；不过另一方面，能在最初就参与其中，我已经格外幸运了。这就像看半杯水：可以说它半满，也可以说它半空。
我再次听到比特币的消息，是在 2010 年末。让我惊讶的是，它不仅还在运行，比特币竟然真的有了货币价值。我翻出尘封的旧钱包，发现我的比特币还在，终于松了一口气。随着价格上涨，变成一笔实实在在的钱，我把这些币转进了离线钱包，希望将来它们能给我的继承人留下一些价值。
说到继承人，2009 年我遭遇了一件意想不到的事：我突然被诊断出患有一种致命疾病。那年年初，我的身体状况是有生以来最好的。我减掉了很多体重，开始练习长跑。我跑过几次半程马拉松，并开始为全程马拉松训练。我逐渐能跑二十多英里，以为自己已经准备好了。可就在那时，一切出了问题。
我的身体开始出状况。我说话含混不清，双手失去力量，双腿也恢复得很慢。2009 年 8 月，我被确诊患有 ALS，也称卢·格里格病，得名于那位患过此病的著名棒球运动员。
ALS 会杀死运动神经元，也就是把信号从大脑传递到肌肉的神经元。它先使人无力，随后瘫痪逐渐加重。通常会在两到五年内致命。起初我的症状较轻，仍能继续工作，但疲劳和发声困难迫使我在 2011 年初退休。此后，疾病一直在无情地发展。
如今，我基本上已经瘫痪了。我通过一根管子进食，通过另一根管子辅助呼吸。我用一套商用眼球追踪系统操作电脑。它还带有语音合成功能，所以这就是我现在的声音。我整天都待在电动轮椅上。我用 Arduino 做了一个接口，这样就能用眼睛调整轮椅的位置。
适应这一切需要时间，但我的生活还不算太糟。我仍然可以阅读、听音乐、看电视和电影。最近我发现，自己甚至还能写代码。速度非常慢，大概比以前慢五十倍。但我仍然热爱编程，它让我有了目标。目前我正在做 Mike Hearn 提议的一件事：利用现代处理器为支持“可信计算”而设计的安全功能，增强比特币钱包的安全性。它几乎可以发布了，只差把文档写好。
当然，比特币价格的起起落落也让我觉得有趣。毕竟我自己也有切身的利害关系。但我得到这些比特币靠的是运气，谈不上有什么功劳。我经历过 2011 年的暴跌，所以这种事我已经见过了。来得容易，去得也容易。
这就是我的故事。总体来说，我很幸运。即使患有 ALS，我的生活仍然很令人满足。但我余下的寿命有限。那些关于如何继承比特币的讨论，对我来说并不只是理论上的兴趣。我的比特币存放在我们的银行保险箱里，儿子和女儿也都懂技术。我想，这样已经足够安全了。对于自己留下的这一切，我很安心。
[略有编辑]
English · 英文全文
I thought I’d write about the last four years, an eventful time for Bitcoin and me.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Hal Finney. I got my start in crypto working on an early version of PGP, working closely with Phil Zimmermann. When Phil decided to start PGP Corporation, I was one of the first hires. I would work on PGP until my retirement. At the same time, I got involved with the Cypherpunks. I ran the first cryptographically based anonymous remailer, among other activities.
Fast forward to late 2008 and the announcement of Bitcoin. I’ve noticed that cryptographic graybeards (I was in my mid 50’s) tend to get cynical. I was more idealistic; I have always loved crypto, the mystery and the paradox of it.
When Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list, he got a skeptical reception at best. Cryptographers have seen too many grand schemes by clueless noobs. They tend to have a knee jerk reaction.
I was more positive. I had long been interested in cryptographic payment schemes. Plus I was lucky enough to meet and extensively correspond with both Wei Dai and Nick Szabo, generally acknowledged to have created ideas that would be realized with Bitcoin. I had made an attempt to create my own proof of work based currency, called RPOW. So I found Bitcoin facinating.
When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away. I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin. I mined block 70-something, and I was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction, when Satoshi sent ten coins to me as a test. I carried on an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days, mostly me reporting bugs and him fixing them.
Today, Satoshi’s true identity has become a mystery. But at the time, I thought I was dealing with a young man of Japanese ancestry who was very smart and sincere. I’ve had the good fortune to know many brilliant people over the course of my life, so I recognize the signs.
After a few days, bitcoin was running pretty stably, so I left it running. Those were the days when difficulty was 1, and you could find blocks with a CPU, not even a GPU. I mined several blocks over the next days. But I turned it off because it made my computer run hot, and the fan noise bothered me. In retrospect, I wish I had kept it up longer, but on the other hand I was extraordinarily lucky to be there at the beginning. It’s one of those glass half full half empty things.
The next I heard of Bitcoin was late 2010, when I was surprised to find that it was not only still going, bitcoins actually had monetary value. I dusted off my old wallet, and was relieved to discover that my bitcoins were still there. As the price climbed up to real money, I transferred the coins into an offline wallet, where hopefully they’ll be worth something to my heirs.
Speaking of heirs, I got a surprise in 2009, when I was suddenly diagnosed with a fatal disease. I was in the best shape of my life at the start of that year, I’d lost a lot of weight and taken up distance running. I’d run several half marathons, and I was starting to train for a full marathon. I worked my way up to 20+ mile runs, and I thought I was all set. That’s when everything went wrong.
My body began to fail. I slurred my speech, lost strength in my hands, and my legs were slow to recover. In August, 2009, I was given the diagnosis of ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the famous baseball player who got it.
ALS is a disease that kills moter neurons, which carry signals from the brain to the muscles. It causes first weakness, then gradually increasing paralysis. It is usually fatal in 2 to 5 years. My symptoms were mild at first and I continued to work, but fatigue and voice problems forced me to retire in early 2011. Since then the disease has continued its inexorable progression.
Today, I am essentially paralyzed. I am fed through a tube, and my breathing is assisted through another tube. I operate the computer using a commercial eyetracker system. It also has a speech synthesizer, so this is my voice now. I spend all day in my power wheelchair. I worked up an interface using an arduino so that I can adjust my wheelchair’s position using my eyes.
It has been an adjustment, but my life is not too bad. I can still read, listen to music, and watch TV and movies. I recently discovered that I can even write code. It’s very slow, probably 50 times slower than I was before. But I still love programming and it gives me goals. Currently I’m working on something Mike Hearn suggested, using the security features of modern processors, designed to support “Trusted Computing”, to harden Bitcoin wallets. It’s almost ready to release. I just have to do the documentation.
And of course the price gyrations of bitcoins are entertaining to me. I have skin in the game. But I came by my bitcoins through luck, with little credit to me. I lived through the crash of 2011. So I’ve seen it before. Easy come, easy go.
That’s my story. I’m pretty lucky overall. Even with the ALS, my life is very satisfying. But my life expectancy is limited. Those discussions about inheriting your bitcoins are of more than academic interest. My bitcoins are stored in our safe deposit box, and my son and daughter are tech savvy. I think they’re safe enough. I’m comfortable with my legacy.
[edited slightly]