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.
What is the Genesis block?
The Genesis Block is the name of the first bitcoin block ever mined in the bitcoin blockchain. It is the ancestor to which every other block on the bitcoin blockchain traces back to. Bitcoin’s Genesis Block introduced and cemented the system of proof-of-work in the Bitcoin blockchain. This has become adopted by emerging crypto blockchains in the world. **
The Genesis Block, also known as Block 0 is the foundation upon which additional blocks are added. It determines the hashing of successive blocks, thus it is responsible for dictating the process of validating bitcoin transactions and bringing new bitcoins into existence. In 2009, an anonymous personality by the pseudo name, Satoshi Nacomoto made the first bitcoin transaction that came to be known as the Genesis Block. Therefore Satoshi Nacomoto is regarded as the father of bitcoin and by extension, the father of cryptocurrency while the Genesis Block is regarded as the origin of bitcoin Blockchain and by extension, the origin of cryptocurrency blockchain.
What are the significances of the Genesis Block?
The Genesis Block is a milestone that has been able to set different processes in motion. Below are some of the significances of the Genesis Block amongst many others.
- It eliminates middlemen
The genesis block is the start of a financial process that overrides the expensive and rigorous trail of going through middlemen to perform financial transactions. Here, there is no third party or corporate body to stand between bitcoin and the customer. The result is faster transactions, lesser fees, and high transparency in transactions.
- It is a prototype of the Bitcoin Blockchain
The genesis block is a prototype of every other block that would ever be produced on the bitcoin blockchain. It determines how every block in the bitcoin blockchain will be formed. It is more like the gene that determines the features of subsequent blocks on the blockchain. For instance, Genesis block came with a hexadecimal code that would eventually be broken by the next block (Block 1), hence forming a new block with similar hexadecimal code but is more secure than the first one and that is how the process continues till the last block is formed on the blockchain.
- It signals the beginning of a more secured financial system.
The bitcoin network is a far more secured financial process than its traditional counterparts such as the banking system. The bitcoin network continuously checks and re-checks itself by specified computers that are responsible for computing complex mathematical problems before which human bitcoin miners validate the process. And because transactions are stored forever in multiple nodes, the actions of miners can always be traced, therefore making the process a very transparent one.
- The Genesis block is the trigger behind the release of all cryptocurrency blockchains.
The Genesis block is the motivation behind the emergence of all other cryptocurrency blockchains that already exist or will ever come to be. It is the match stick that has created a wildfire. Since the inception of the bitcoin blockchain, we saw Ethereum blockchain released four years later in 2013, Cardano in 2015, steem in 2016, Tron in 2017, Solana in 2019 and so does the list continues to expand. The Genesis block has succeeded in moving the world to a new financial era of cryptocurrency.
- The Genesis block popularized the Blockchain Technology
The Genesis Block and what it conceived – the Bitcoin blockchain has popularized the use of blockchain technology.
The use of blockchain technology by cryptocurrencies has ushered in the dawn of a new economic era that has done well in circulating money or legal tenders even to the most undeveloped areas of the world.
The importance and applicability of blockchain technology are now heard in every corner of industries all over the world. Because of its colossal success with the bitcoin network, industries are now testing out blockchain technology for enhanced output. Decentralization, a key feature of blockchain technology is an uptrend (because of its feat with bitcoin) for present-day commerce and companies are trying to level up to the bait or risk being left behind in the trend.
Explore the Bitcoin Genesis block and indicate how many transactions so far and the number of bitcoins.
I looked up the provided Genesis Block hash (000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f) on the bitcoin block explorer and got the below information.
I also searched the hash (1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa) of the first wallet that ever received bitcoins on the block explorer and I got the below information. I think It is quite surprising to see that people still send bitcoins to this wallet even though the bitcoins remain unspendable. I guess things are still yet to unfold.
Wallet | Information (as of time of writing) |
|---|---|
| Transactions | 3,050 |
| Total Received | 68.52264025 BTC |
| Total sent | 0.0000000 BTC |
| Final Bal | 68.52264025 |
The importance of the Genesis Block cannot be over emphasized, seeing that it has paved a whole new way for future technologies to thrive on. Cryptocurrency has effectively stood the test of time and therefore has come to stay. The name Satochi Nakomoto will go down history as the personality that changed the world's financial system by giving it a cashless and decentralized face when most needed.
Thanks prof @awesononso for the informative lesson.