One of Bitcoin's early pioneers Hal Finney, died on the morning of the 29 August, aged 58, after having battled ALS or Motor Neurone Disease since 2009.
Before he died Finney decided he wanted to spend his Bitcoins on something that, he believed, could potentially give him a future: human cryopreservation.
Just after his death Finney was flown to the Alcor Life Extension Foundation centre where his body was drained of fluids and replaced with a preservative called M22.
M22 has been designed to prevent the creation of ice crystals during the cooling process while also being as gentle to the organic tissues themselves as possible.
After this process is completed he'll be cooled to -320 degrees Fahrenheit, and then placed inside a large 10-foot metal tank filled with 450 litres of liquid nitrogen.
In these conditions it's believed the human body is kept in a state of almost completely suspended animation. His body will remain like this until the technology has been developed that can both awaken him and hopefully help cure his ALS.
Despite the fact that, to date, no human has been successfully brought back to life from suspended animation, Finney's wife Fran has faith in his belief that it could be possible.
Speaking to Wired she explains, “Hal respects other people’s beliefs, and he doesn’t like to argue. But it doesn’t matter to him what other people believe, he has enough confidence in how he figures things out for himself. He’s always believed he could find the truth, and he doesn’t need to convince anyone.”
You can read the full piece on Finney's decision to be frozen and the reasons behind it over at Wired where the publication was able to speak in full with his wife Fran and Alcor.