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.
Building on the ideology that a blockchain is comprises of a series of blocks that are used to keep or store information that are related to transactions which occur on a blockchain network, THE GENESIS BLOCK of any cryptocurrency blockchain is the initial or first block that was mined on that particular blockchain.
It is foremost or premier block that determines how all other blocks will be aligned or structured to it in order to form the rest of the chain. All of the other blocks coming after the Genesis Block are carrying an individual hash that links them to the Genesis Block.
Below is an example of the Genesis Block illustration, designed by me @frankness7 on Corel Draw
The extent to which the Genesis Block matters or its importance, cannot be disputed. Listed and briefly explained below are the significances of the Genesis Block;
Bitcoin is believed and known to be the first successful cryptocurrency which has paved a way to the emergence of many more cryptocurrencies which are all functioning or existing in a decentralized form. Over the past twelve years, it has been leading the pack and trending beyond reasonable doubt as the biggest fish and most valuable asset in the cryptocurrency world thus, controlling and influencing majority of the cryptocurrency market movement trends.
In a space of over twelve (12) years after the creation of Bitcoin, thousands (1000s) of alternate cryptocurrency tokens has been created on other different blockchains and traded on so many platforms. It is ideal to state that all of these has come to play as a result of the emergence of the first ever Genesis Block.
The creation of Bitcoin is initiated the use of the so much talked about Blockchain ideology which had been highly speculated for years. The single event of the Genesis Block mining made it of possible to apply practical usage of the Blockchain technology in the real world. In our everyday lives now, the Blockchain technology is being functionally utilized to solve a number of problems in our world. Therefore, it is easy to say that the Genesis Block has played an integral and significant role in activating the Blockchain technology in today's World.
The Genesis block portrays a frame of orderliness and arrangement in a blockchain and it clearly defines how data should be placed or stored inside of it. The Genesis block is a model for every block on the Bitcoin blockchain. The careful systematic order of the arrangement of contents of this first or initial block is accompanied by other blocks and gives a criteria to be followed for a new block to be mined.
In exploring the Bitcoin Genesis Block from source, I found the following the following information about the Block.
| Block Hash | 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f |
|---|
From the Block Explorer source, The Genesis block is indicated as Block 0 having a block reward of 50BTC. I was able to view this Block by simply pasting the hash shown above in the search bar of the
Blockchain Explorer, giving me the screenshot shown below;
Information i got from The Blockchain Explorer source, The wallet with address, 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa has been shown to have received the Block reward for this Block (Block 0) where they remain untouchable or cannot be spent.
Below is a screenshot of the wallet as gotten from the blockchain explorer source
Also, at the the time of checking the wallet on the Explorer,i found out that there are more then 50 BTC available in it. There are 68.52615533 BTC from 3,143 transactions and according to the comprehensive lecture, being that Bitcoin has changed the financial status of a huge number of people, they've deemed it right to send some coins in appreciation to Satoshi Nakamoto, the alleged founder of Bitcoin in a way to thank him for his trailblazing efforts in actualizing the blockchain protocol.
I have meticulously studied the basics of The Genesis Block, Its significance and also, i have explored the The Bitcoin Genesis Block, number of transactions and Bitcoins so far.
All pictures used were designed by me on Corel Draw except the sourced pictures which were gotten from Blockchainexplorer.com