Many are unaware of the fact that Ripple’s XRP does not effectively contain a Genesis block. Due to an error, the ledgers with numbers one through 32569 were lost and have not been restored.
Genesis blocks are considered to be the most important part of a blockchain’s history. However, this early phase is apparently not known for the third largest cryptocurrency. The first week of the ledger history for XRP is completely missing.
It has been known for years that XRP suffered a mishap in the first few weeks of its creation. Currently, Ledger # 32570 is the earliest point on XRP’s blockchain that is actually recorded and stored. Everything that preceded this point has been lost and apparently will never be restored, including the Genesis block.
Early mistakes
As archived forums show, the mishap happened via a “server bug”, which led to a lost history. This makes tracing back to the Genesis block impossible. However, when it was written in 2013, there was some hope that it could be restored. So far, these efforts have failed. As one user pointed out, this effectively means, “We can’t see the crucial first few hundred transactions!”
This is especially prescient given that Ripple’s early days were so chaotic. Jed McCaleb started the project but gave up due to disagreements. He went on to develop Stellar (XLM), but he continues to get his copious stake in XRP.
Has XRP’s Genesis Block Gone Forever?
No one has managed to recreate the first week of XRP’s ledger since 2013. The bug resulted in “Ledger Headers” not being saved properly and proving impossible to recreate. The fact was recently brought up by Michael del Castillo (@DelRayMan) who searched for Ripple’s Genesis block but was shocked to find nothing. He looked for the transaction that spawned the now-existing 1 billion XRP.
Ledgers 1 through 32569 were lost. This loss corresponds approximately to the first week of the ledger history. This makes Ledger 32570 the earliest ledger available anywhere. https://t.co/VFMM2kpJbh pic.twitter.com/h2hA9lsiWA
– πΏπΉπ· (@BankXRP) December 11, 2019
This gaping hole in Ripple’s blockchain effectively obscures the early and most fundamental days of Ripple’s history – the first week. A blockchain without a Genesis block remains an anomaly across the industry.
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