The creation of the bitcoin until today still appears to many a mysterious phenomenon. We have always been guided under the rules of a governing body from the time human socialism began.
Bitcoin creation came alive to challenge this authority and change the hand of power directed effortlessly towards the hand of the common majority.
This piece of magnificent genius combines a lot of concepts and techniques both mathematically and computationally in a combo piece that has never been used before.
Which eventually resulted in a form of new groundbreaking technology creating a new landscape.
The technology on top which bitcoin is situated conduct it’s computations by arranging information in sequential order of blocks, each having a data identifier back to a previous immediate block all the way back to the firstly created block generally known as the Genesis block.
This series featuring seven parts will highlight some of the features and mystery of the bitcoin genesis block which you might not yet have come across.
This part “The Alpha To All Subsequent Blocks” is the first part of the series.
The Genesis Block
[Image Source](https://www.google.com/amp/s/en.bitcoinwiki.org/wiki/Amp/Genesis_block
The Genesis block is the first block in a blockchain system which is usually created by the creator of the system.
An unknown genius known as Satoshi Nakamoto created the Bitcoin genesis block as a statement of a decentralized financial move to remedy the corrupt and failing central systems made obvious during the 2007-2008 economic crisis which is regarded as one of the most financial crises after the Great Depression of 1929–1939.
The genesis block represents the source and serves as an ancestral lineage to which every other subsequent block can trace back their origin to.
It is the alpha to all other blocks.
Generally, it is regarded in a mathematical term as block 0 ‘zero’ (though known as block 1 in older version) and contain all the initial parameters and consensus that defines a block.
As a reference and important entity in the system definition, the genesis block is hardcoded into the Blockchain network’s clients of the main network.
Here is a look of the parameters contained in the bitcoin genesis block (section 1):
// Genesis Block:
// GetHash() = 0x000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
// hashMerkleRoot = 0x4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b
// txNew.vin[0].scriptSig = 486604799 4 0x736B6E616220726F662074756F6C69616220646E6F63657320666F206B6E697262206E6F20726F6C6C65636E61684320393030322F6E614A2F33302073656D695420656854
// txNew.vout[0].nValue = 5000000000
// txNew.vout[0].scriptPubKey = 0x5F1DF16B2B704C8A578D0BBAF74D385CDE12C11EE50455F3C438EF4C3FBCF649B6DE611FEAE06279A60939E028A8D65C10B73071A6F16719274855FEB0FD8A6704 OP_CHECKSIG
// block.nVersion = 1
// block.nTime = 1231006505
// block.nBits = 0x1d00ffff
// block.nNonce = 2083236893
// CBlock(hash=000000000019d6, ver=1, hashPrevBlock=00000000000000, hashMerkleRoot=4a5e1e, nTime=1231006505, nBits=1d00ffff, nNonce=2083236893, vtx=1)
// CTransaction(hash=4a5e1e, ver=1, vin.size=1, vout.size=1, nLockTime=0)
// CTxIn(COutPoint(000000, -1), coinbase 04ffff001d0104455468652054696d65732030332f4a616e2f32303039204368616e63656c6c6f72206f6e206272696e6b206f66207365636f6e64206261696c6f757420666f722062616e6b73)
// CTxOut(nValue=50.00000000, scriptPubKey=0x5F1DF16B2B704C8A578D0B)
// vMerkleTree: 4a5e1e
Shown above in line // txNew.vout[0].nValue = 5000000000. is the 50 bitcoin block reward which for a reason not yet known is unspendable.
This block reward is set to half after every 210,000 blocks, which occur approximately every 4 years interval.
The first halving happened in November 2012 and the recent one in 2016. Both halvings spearheaded a bull run to an all-time high of $1,000 and $19,000 respectively with a cycle of a bear market following immediately.
The next halving is predicted to happen in 2020 bringing the block reward down from the current 12.5 coins to 6.25. With past indications; should we be expecting yet another all-time high by then?
I am in no way a financial analyst but I think the market makers wouldn’t be sleeping on their laurels during such an important period.
The genesis block holds huge significant importance in many aspects of a blockchain. It could be set to hold a high number of pre-mined coins as opposed to a fixed pre-set block reward. Ethereum was the first to pre-mine crypto coins and we have seen many projects which have followed the same footsteps.
For any node to connect to a particular blockchain network, it must download the source copy containing the data of the genesis block or an archived copy which history can be traced back to this ancestral block.
Genesis block allows for the initial consensus of a system to be reached which ultimately set the platter for later agreements.
Unlike how later mining processing is done using application specific high computational machine, Bitcoin genesis block was initially mined using ordinary Pc CPU, attested with the use of window GUI application to write the initial implementations of bitcoin version 0.1 written in the coding language C++.
Bitcoin mining continues this way for two years after the genesis block was found because of the low difficulty level.
In fact, bitcoin mining difficulty was first set as one(1) a far cry from the current 2 billion+ numeric figure.
The genesis block holds a lot of mystery from a mysterious creator. Setting the world for a mysterious unpredictable journey.
Do hang around to read the next part “The mystery between block 0 and block 1 creation time.” of this interesting series.
What fascinated you most about the bitcoin genesis block from this part. I would like to know in the comment box below.
Thanks for your time reading the post.
Disclaimer
The content of this post is for informational purpose only, and should not be used for any investment purpose.
References:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Genesis_block
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