If you haven’t been living under a rock this summer, you may have seen people close to you dumping ice water on their heads in support of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) research.
Sadly, this week, the topic of ALS hit close to home with the loss of Hal Finney, a bitcoin pioneer, and the very first person to receive a bitcoin from Satoshi Nakamoto.
Finney was diagnosed with ALS, and in the final years of his life, was confined to a wheelchair, unable to move.
And while the ice bucket challenges has done great things for ALS research, members of the bitcoin community have longed to help in their own way — by donating bitcoin.
It truly is a fantastic way to not only help fight ALS, but to remember Hal Finney.
In a joint effort, Erik Voorhees, Jason King (of Sean’s Outpost), Roger Ver, BitPay, and the Bitcoin Foundation have come together to establish the Hal Finney Bitcoin Fund.
The fund will allow users in our community to chip in, with 100 percent of funds donated going to the cause intended.
Users can donate to: 1JsnZLEGgLJY7rbDdaKTzC2JyvfaKUpF5p
The Bitcoin Foundation was the first to donate to the fund, chipping in 0.2 bitcoins (or about $100 at the time of the donation).
Since then, the donation address has received nine donations amounting to over 2 bitcoins. As awareness of the fund spreads throughout the community, you can bet that number will go up.
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Gavin Andresen, chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation, appeared on video doing the ice bucket challenge, commemorating Hal Finney’s contributions to the development in bitcoin.
Rest in peace, Hal.