The 10 people who shaped the history of Bitcoin from the beginning

While Bitcoin is enjoying growing success today, around the world to the point that we are talking about a hyperbitcoinization of the world, we must not forget that it has not been an easy path.

Understanding the meaning of Bitcoin, its benefits and how it works is still not an easy thing today, but in 2009, when it was created, it was even more “incomprehensible” at first glance.

It took people, more visionary and curious than others, to be interested in Bitcoin to grasp its subtleties and potential. It is precisely to pay tribute to these people that we are writing this article. It is important to salute the audacity of all these people, all of whom, in their own ways, have contributed to developing the Bitcoin network and making it ever more efficient.

It is possible that without their contributions, Bitcoin would have ended up in oblivion and that we would have missed out on one of the most formidable financial inventions the world has known.

Satoshi Nakamoto

Obviously, we start this article with the creator of the Bitcoin project himself. Although we still do not know today whether it is a man, a woman or even a group, the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto has entered history.

When he published the white paper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in 2008, he had just invented the first decentralized digital currency. It radically transformed the nature of money, and in turn, paved the way for a completely new design of the monetary system.

Certainly, Satoshi Nakamoto is at the origin of the creation of Bitcoin which he offered to the whole world, but without the first people who embraced his idea, perhaps he would never have known the success he until today.

Below are the people who helped Saotshi Nakamoto to realize and grow Bitcoin and its ecosystem.

Gavin Andresen

Satoshi Nakamoto has stopped writing on the forums since 2010 but the last private message he sent was on April 26, 2011 and was addressed to Gavin Andresen. It was he who became the chief developer of Bitcoin Core until 2014.

Gavin Andresen is a brilliant software developer who was the first developer to work closely with Satoshi Nakamoto, from the early days of Bitcoin's launch.

It was to Gavin Andresen that Satoshi Nakamoto provided the first access to the project's source code. He played a most important role in the maintenance and development of Bitcoin software.

To promote Bitcoin, he created the first " Bitcoin faucet " website where he offered free bitcoins to users. He reportedly gave away over 10,000 BTC before shutting down the site in 2012.

He also founded the Bitcoin Foundation to support various Bitcoin projects and updates.

Hal Finney

Could we write this article on the 10 greatest personalities who shaped the history of Bitcoin if we didn't talk about Hal Finney?

Hal Finney was the first person to receive bitcoin in a transaction made by Satoshi Nakamoto himself. A computer scientist and enthusiast for the Bitcoin project, he played a key role in the adoption of Bitcoin. He was also the first to post on Twitter about Bitcoin with words that have since become iconic "running bitcoin". This is a double meaning when you know that he was a big fan of running.

Hal Finney died in 2014 after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Since then, Hal Finney has been considered the godfather of Bitcoin, and his letter, " Bitcoin and Me, " has become essential reading for anyone interested in Bitcoin's tumultuous history.

His wife regularly organizes races in honor of Hal Finney and Bitcoin to support ALS patients.

Read : “Bitcoin and Me,” Hal Finney’s famous letter

Nick Szabo

Nick Szabo is among the brightest minds who contributed to the cryptographic research that led to Bitcoin. It's often forgotten (or not known) that the Bitcoin Core software is the result of a series of failed attempts. Indeed, Bitcoin has predecessors, including David Chaum's DigiCash, e-Gold in 1996, and Wei DaiB's B-Money.

Nick Szabo is among those who, for example, shaped concepts later used by Satoshi Nakamoto. Indeed, in 1990, Nick Szabo invented what are known as " smart contracts ," which were crucial in the development of blockchain technology. Other research he published on digital currencies and cryptography in general paved the way for the invention of Bitcoin.

Due to the affinities of his research with those of Nakamoto, many people believed that he was the real Satoshi Nakamoto, something he always denied.

Read: Who is Nick Szabo: the man who invented “smart contracts”?

Laszlo Hanyecz

If you are familiar with the story of May 22nd, which is in bitcoin culture, the day of " Pizza Day ", then you certainly know Laszlo Hanyecz.

This computer programmer of Hungarian origin, who lives in the United States, is known for having been the first person to have made a purchase with bitcoin. It should be remembered that in 2010, buying pizzas on the Internet was not a common thing and doing so with bitcoin was still unthinkable!

He posted an ad saying he would pay 10,000 BTC to receive two pizzas, which at the time was about $40. Since then, the price of bitcoin has exploded and 10,000 bitcoins are equivalent to more than 270 million dollars today.

Even if it seems anecdotal, this first transaction marked a turning point in the history of Bitcoin because it took on for the first time the meaning for which it was created: to be an electronic currency which serves as a vector of value just like traditional currencies . This helped give some financial value to bitcoin, which it did not yet officially have at the time of this announcement.

Beyond the pizza story, you should know that Laszlo Hanyecz is a very prolific developer of Bitcoin and that he contributed, among other things, to the publication of the version of the software on MacOs.

Read : Laszlo Hanyecz, the man behind Pizza Day, doesn't regret his choice

Adam Back

Adam Back is a renowned computer scientist and notorious cypherpunk who created the Hashcash system. This proof-of-work system served as the algorithmic foundation for Bitcoin. It is widely acknowledged that without his work, the development of Bitcoin would not have been possible.

Today, Adam Back is the CEO of Blockstream, a key company that continues to contribute to Bitcoin's development. Blockstream is dedicated to blockchain development, and many of the updates that have improved Bitcoin's performance are the result of its work. The company is constantly expanding the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Actively participating in the Bitcoin ecosystem, Blockstream has proposed numerous Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) to enhance the network. Blockstream developers have improved the network's scalability by enhancing Bitcoin's proof-of-work algorithm.

Blockstream currently employs a large number of Bitcoin core software developers and the company also participates in financing Bitcoin-related projects.

Elizabeth Stark

Elizabeth Stark is the co-founder of Lightning Labs, a company focused on developing the Lightning Network. This is a Layer 2 technology that adds an extra layer to the Bitcoin network to enable faster and cheaper transactions.

The Lightning Network represents a tremendous step forward for the ecosystem as a whole and helps to solve Bitcoin's scalability problems.

Beyond her work for Lightning Labs, Elizabeth Stark is an influential figure in the community who champions and supports open-source projects related to Bitcoin. A maximalist , she is also an activist for individual and digital freedoms and carries out various forms of activism in this regard.

Read: The Complete Guide to Understanding and Using the Lightning Network ⚡

Gregory Maxwell

Greg Maxwell is a talented software engineer and cryptographer who worked on Bitcoin Core software. He was also one of the first participants on the BitcoinTalk forum where he had very in-depth technical discussions on how Bitcoin works.

Greg Maxwell helped create the Confidential Transactions protocol , which improved the privacy of Bitcoin transactions, and he also developed Segregated Witness (SegWit). He is best known for creating Coinjoin, a solution for strengthening transaction privacy.

He is the co-founder with Adam Back of the company Blockstream in which, as CTO, he works on various technical improvements to the network by reviewing BIPs (Bitcoin Improvement Proposals).

Saifedean Ammous

Saifedean Ammous is an economist and author of books that have become seminal works in the field, one in particular being " The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banks ." It is undoubtedly the most popular book on Bitcoin , translated into more than 36 languages. The book explains the evolution of the currency and shows how Bitcoin, as an electronic and digital currency, fills the gaps in the contemporary global economy.

Saifedean was a professor of economics at the Lebanese American University from 2009 to 2019 and today he offers economics and bitcoin courses on his personal website Saifedean.com. ‍

He largely contributed to giving his academic credentials to economic theories related to Bitcoin. Likewise, holder of a doctorate in economics, Saifedean Ammous shows that the Intelligentsia can also consider Bitcoin as a perfectly legitimate currency.

Andreas Antonopoulos

Andreas Antonopoulos is certainly the best known of those called "Bitcoin evangelists." These are people who contributed to the early days of the Bitcoin project by explaining it to the general public.

A graduate in computer science, Andreas Antonopoulos is an author and speaker known for the quality of his speeches and his ability to explain complicated concepts in a simple way.

His best-known book is "Mastering Bitcoin", which has become a reference for those seeking to understand the technology used by Bitcoin. The videos of these lectures on YouTube remain a reference work to this day.

A supporter and activist for decentralization and financial sovereignty, he has been involved for many years in popularizing Bitcoin. For many people, it was with Andreas Antonopoulos that they were introduced to the fascinating world of Bitcoin.

Read : Who is Andreas Antonopoulos, the most well-known “bitcoin evangelist”?

Final word on these 10 personalities

We could have added other figures who also contributed to raising awareness of Bitcoin in its early days, when it was even more difficult to understand its implications and how it worked. We couldn't mention everyone, as we focused on those who played the most decisive roles. Ross Ulbricht deserves a place on this list, since by accepting Bitcoin on his website ( Silk Road ), he was the first to make Bitcoin a payment method used online by thousands of people. Although his story is quite unusual, it helped to popularize Bitcoin in a practical way.

We could also have mentioned Roger Ver , known as " Bitcoin Jesus ," who, although controversial, was nonetheless one of the first popularizers of Bitcoin. We could also have mentioned Michael Saylor, who demonstrated, through his massive investments in Bitcoin, that businesses could also invest in it.

We also make a small mention to all the early adopters who discussed on the BitcoinTalk forum with Satoshi Nakamoto and who asked all the essential questions for its improvement. Many people involved have remained (voluntarily) anonymous but their impact is considerable in the history of Bitcoin. These are in fact the first users who were able to test the software and were able to identify implementation bugs in order to correct and update them.

It is thanks to all these people, in a collective dimension, that the Bitcoin project has been able to flourish and reach more and more people so that they can benefit from a new, more inclusive and more democratic monetary system.

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