The genesis block is the name of the first block in the Bitcoin blockchain. It was extracted on January 3, 2009, ie 12 years days for days.
Bitcoin turns 12
The first 50 BTCs were mined on January 3, 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto himself in order to give birth to the Bitcoin blockchain .
S. Nakamoto made it clear that he was sensitive to the failures of the global financial system since the first block contained a message: “ The Times 03 / Jan / 2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout of banks” in reference to an article published the same day in the British newspaper The Times .
The Times 3 Jan 2009
Cover of The Times January 3, 2009
The article relates the attempt to rescue the banks by the English government in the midst of the financial crisis . By writing this note, Satoshi surely wanted to show his interest in the subject and raise public awareness .
The January 3 is the anniversary of the genesis block, but also the day “Proof-of-Key” or proof key of removing his bitcoins of exchanges to a wallet whose private keys it holds to recover full ownership of its funds.
The mystery of block 0
The genesis block and the launch of Bitcoin remain shrouded in mystery and reverence . Thus, the launch of block 0 was the subject of much debate on a specific point of its creation: the first 50 BTC could not be spent.
Thus, the first reward (50 BTC) was to be awarded to the address: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa . However, the reward could not be distributed due to an anomaly in the code in block 0. Is this an intentional feature or just an error ? This question was the subject of much debate among initiates. However, due to the developer’s precision, most theories suggest it was n’t a mistake.
Another originality, the followers regularly make donations to the address of the genesis block as a thank you. The address now has 68.35 BTC or about $ 2.3 million. There are 2,718 offerings that could be compared to the throwing of coins in the Trevi fountain in Rome.