He was one of the first supporters, contributors, and adopters of Bitcoin.

In short, Finney was a visionary who understood Bitcoin's potential before almost everyone else.

In December 2010, Finney wrote:

"There is a very good reason for Bitcoin-backed banks to exist, issuing their own digital cash currency, redeemable for bitcoins.

Bitcoin itself cannot scale to have every single financial transaction in the world be broadcast to everyone and included in the blockchain.

There needs to be a secondary level of payment systems which is lighter weight and more efficient. Likewise, the time needed for Bitcoin transactions to finalize will be impractical for medium to large value purchases.

Bitcoin backed banks will solve these problems. They can work like banks did before nationalization of currency. Different banks can have different policies, some more aggressive, some more conservative. Some would be fractional reserve while others may be 100% Bitcoin backed. Interest rates may vary. Cash from some banks may trade at a discount to that from others.

I believe this will be the ultimate fate of Bitcoin, to be the 'high-powered money' that serves as a reserve currency for banks that issue their own digital cash. Most Bitcoin transactions will occur between banks, to settle net transfers.

Bitcoin transactions by private individuals will be as rare as… well, as Bitcoin based purchases are today."