Despite its short history, Bitcoin is considered a revolution in the concept of money. Tales of its origin and its pseudonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, are told like they’re centuries old and prophetic. The respect shown by enthusiasts is also a marvel considering that no one knows about the initial days of Bitcoin or the identity of its founder. With this in mind, we decided to go back to where it all started, the Genesis Block, and look at some of the mysteries it holds.
Once upon a time…
It was the era of the housing crisis. The world was in deep turmoil that was reminiscent of the Great Depression and caused by the greed of top banking executives. As is most often the case, the government was considering a bailout of these troubled banks.
Public money was being used to correct the greed-filled decisions of the few. No one could say or do anything because the people were already dealing with their wounds from the crash.
Spurred by the helplessness of the masses, Satoshi Nakamoto decided to work on a project that would take the middleman out of the equation. The idea was as simple as it was revolutionary—just man and money. No banks.
The era of bitcoin
Satoshi developed a blockchain-based currency that worked on a proof-of-work protocol so secure that no government or other body would be able to tamper with it. He published the Bitcoin whitepaper on Halloween 2008, and so the era of the blockchain began, the era of Bitcoin.
His anonymity has worked synchronously to promote the idea that Bitcoin was above any one man. It sure reminds people of masked heroes who work for the greater good without as much acknowledgment.
The GenesisBlock
We know that bitcoin needs to be mined to be made available for circulation, and this mining happens in the form of blocks. Blocks are essentially like pages of a ledger that keep a permanent record of transactions. With each new block mined, the previous one is closed off with all the information about the transactions.
The first Bitcoin block ever mined was by Satoshi himself and it is now known as the Genesis block. It was mined on the 3rd of January 2009.
“Genesis” could be a biblical reference for two reasons. First, the Genesis block paved the way for Bitcoin as we know it today. It was a testament to the refined genius of its creator. Secondly, the next block was mined six days later – unlike today, where a new block is mined every 10 minutes or so.It’s like how God rested for 6 days after creating the universe.
Of course, no one knows for certain why this was done. However, today, every first block of every blockchain is called the same, the Genesis Block.
The cult status
The Bitcoin Genesis Block had 50 bitcoins in it that were never used or could not be used. Some believe that it was by design, some others think that it was the only error ever made on the Bitcoin project by Satoshi.
The block also was unusual also because it had two additional leading Hex zeroes (0000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f) unlike other blocks early of the BTC blockchain.
The reward from the block was sent to this address: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. To date, the address holds more than 66 BTC out of which 50 remain unspendable. Bitcoin believers around the world still send small amounts of BTC as gratitude to the creator, similar to dropping pennies in a fountain. (Except here the pennies can never be recovered)
The hidden message
The Genesis block also had a hidden message inside it. The message was a headline by a British daily that read, “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”.
This served two distinct purposes – it proved that the genesis block was not mined before the 3rd of Jan 2009 (because of the timestamp) and it also spoke towards the founding reasons of BTC.
The Genesis block, more than being special for its identity, is special for what it denotes: The beginning of the era of decentralization. The possibility of faultless economics. The possible end of bailouts.
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