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1a) What is the Genesis block?
b) What are the significances of the Genesis Block?
c) Explore the Bitcoin Genesis block and indicate how many transactions so far and the number of bitcoins.
Block chain technology is fast becoming a revolutionary monentary blast. As time and seasons are changing the society is fast embracing the use of this monentary system. However here comes the big question
HOW DID IT ALL START?
As we ponder through the question we are definitely faced with other petinent questions to be answered about the blockchain.
The word "Genesis Block" comes from two words. 'Genesis' which simply meaning Beginning and 'Block' which in this case insinuates a kind of digital container that holds
and permanently records transactions carried out on the network.
So the Genesis block is simply the first Block of a Blockchain protocol. We must also understand that a Blockchain is literally like a chain of blocks. We can also visualise a block as a ledger page, that records transactions. In otherwords when one ledger page gets finished we turn to the next. This literally the picture of a blockchain. Understanding this is key to understanding the Genesis block.
The Genesis block is oftenly refered to as block 0. It is also like the ancestral block by which all other blocks effectively stem from. In a block chain every block references the previous block from which it stems from. So in technical Jargon we say every block holds a transaction hash for the previous block preceding it. And the Genesis block is that one block with no references or hash to any previous block.
1. TRUST
One of the very essential significance of a Genesis block is that it give a sense of trust in the miners. When a miner is capable of determining the origin of the block chain it gives a boost of confidence to them about the network or ecosystem he is mining. If a network seem not to have an origin then one most becareful the way he or she ventures in to such.
2. REFERENCE OR MODEL
The genesis block for any ecosystem always serves as a guide as to how the other blocks can be mined. How transactions are recorded and dealt with is determined by the Genesis block. So oftenly all other blocks are modelled in like manner as the genesis block.
3. NODE COMPACTABILITY
The Genesis block clearly states which kind of nodes will relate with each other. So oftenly nodes out of the network cannot just transact. So the Genesis block states which nodes are compactible.
4. STABILITY
For a great house there is oftenly a chief cornerstone. And the Genesis block is that Chief cornerstone for that network, because it ensures stability on the network since every block is capable of retracing itself back to it.
Bitcoin was the first blockchain created in 2009. So the first Block or the Genesis block of the Bitcoin ecosystem is the often referred to as the Beginning of the beginning. I decided to take a visit to block 0 and found quite a great amount of useful information about this.
The supposed hash of this block is given as below
000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
The miner of Block 0 is not known.
However some people claim it would be Satoshi Nakamoto. Well it is still very unclear who the person is.
The Number of Transactions carried out on this block is just 1. Which is often referred to as the coinbase transaction.
We can also see a time stamp which shows the date and time for which this transaction was carried out.
Snap shot from block explorer
Also below you can clearly see the amount of bitcoin present on block Zero. And this bitcoin cannot be used!!
Snap shot from block explorer
This seems to be the beginning of of the rise of blockchain. More stories are still to be told about this beauty. With the endorsement of media giants and companies, there is certainly going to be more ecosystems created on a daily basis.
Thank you for reading through