Adam Back – Invented Hashcash, the proof-of-work system that inspired Bitcoin mining. Satoshi Nakamoto contacted him before Bitcoin’s launch. CEO of Blockstream.
- X: https://x.com/adam3us
- Website: http://www.cypherspace.org/adam/
- GitHub: https://github.com/adamback
Hal Finney – Legendary cypherpunk, creator of RPOW, one of Bitcoin’s earliest contributors, and the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi.
- X (archived): https://x.com/halfin
- Archive: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/finney/
Peter Todd – Bitcoin Core developer and cryptographer who has contributed extensively to Bitcoin since 2012 through research, code, and protocol improvements.
- X: https://x.com/peterktodd
- Website: https://petertodd.org/
- GitHub: https://github.com/petertodd
If you want a deeper understanding of Bitcoin’s history and technical foundations, these are excellent people to follow and study.