When Exactly Did Hal Start Running Bitcoin?

The early history of Bitcoin is still full of mystery—even regarding the involvement of Hal Finney, one of Satoshi’s first known correspondents.

In a recent thread, researcher Alex Waltz digs into debug logs, private emails, and early block data to piece together a timeline. Contrary to popular belief, evidence suggests Hal didn’t run Bitcoin from block 1, but likely joined slightly later — not before block 49, according to the data.

This detail may seem minor, but it reminds us how much of Bitcoin’s origin is still obscured, misunderstood, or debated. From block propagation clues to forgotten mailing list posts, every byte of history matters when you're tracing the roots of the most important financial protocol of our time.

So, was Hal there at genesis? Not exactly — and that’s what makes it interesting.