Hal Finney published RPOW (Reusable Proofs of Work) in 2004 as the first cryptographic money based on proof-of-work. Bitcoin came four years later, in 2008/2009.

Finney was deeply involved in early Bitcoin: he received the first bitcoin transaction from Satoshi Nakamoto in January 2009. Many have speculated he was part of the team behind the Satoshi pseudonym — a claim he denied during his lifetime.

The original RPOW was centralized. A single trusted server, running on an IBM 4758 secure coprocessor, signed token transfers and prevented double-spends. There was no blockchain, no decentralized consensus, and no difficulty adjustment.

rpow2pro.com is a modern tribute to the spirit of Finney's original. No IBM 4758 — Ed25519 signatures, magic-link auth, Postgres ledger. Still centralized — but Bitcoin-flavored where it counts: a fixed 21,000,000 supply cap, and a halving schedule that reduces the reward as supply grows.

Caveat: this IS a centralized system. The ledger lives in a database operated by one person on rented infrastructure. No warranty, no recovery guarantees. Treat it accordingly.