In memory of Hal Finney, widely regarded as the most likely person to be Satoshi Nakamoto, his widow Fran launched the Running Bitcoin Challenge, which has now reached its fifth year. This event encourages participants to commemorate Hal by walking or running 21 kilometers. 21 kilometers is roughly the distance of a half marathon and is also a tribute to Bitcoin’s total supply of 21 million. It all started with a tweet from Hal Finney on January 11, 2009: 'Running bitcoin.' He deliberately used lowercase 'bitcoin' instead of uppercase 'Bitcoin,' perhaps reflecting the humility unique to cypherpunks. The word 'Running' originally referred to running software nodes, but it can also symbolize running as an activity. Building on this double meaning, Fran launched the challenge four years ago to raise funds for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) research. Hal Finney passed away due to ALS, the same disease that physicist Stephen Hawking battled for years. Currently, only 10% of ALS cases are confirmed to be linked to genetic factors, while the remaining 90% have unknown causes. It’s an incurable disease, with treatment only able to slow its progression. The average survival time after diagnosis is typically 2-5 years, though there are exceptions like Hawking, but overall, the outlook is grim. To support this research, I’ve done my small part. Through http://runningbitcoin.us, you can donate directly using the Bitcoin network or the Lightning Network. For this, I reopened my Bitcoin Core client, synced the latest block data, and made a transaction. Looking at my records, my last on-chain transaction was two years ago, and the one before that was also two years prior. This long-overdue syncing process made me realize that supporting this network doesn’t require frequent transactions. If you still believe in the value of bitcoin and crypto, you don’t need flashy gimmicks—just start by running a client. Running bitcoin. RunningBitcoinChallenge