Crypto Academy / Season 3 / Week 2 - Homework Post for @awesononso; The Genesis Block: The Beginning of the Beginning by @alexanderpeace

Hello everyone.

Am glad to be here. Am here to do the home work of Crypto Academy / Season 3 / Week 2 - for @awesononso; The Genesis Block: The Beginning of the Beginning.

I want to thank the professor @awesononso for doing justice to the lecture. It was indeed eye opening. So I'll go ahead and answer the question asked.

Source

What is the Genesis Block of a Blockchain?

The Genesis of a blockchain is the first block of a blockchain. It's the Adam of all blocks and this simply means that no other block ever existed before the Genesis Block. The Genesis Block is the base on which other blocks stands. It's usually depicted as block 0 on the blockchain, whereas some block chain refer to it as block 1.

Write on the Bitcoin Genesis Block and its significance.

The Bitcoin Genesis Block was birthed after the founder of bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto made a bitcoin transaction on the 3rd of January 2009. Before then , there had been a white paper publication in 2008 promising a decentralized cash system that was strictly on a peer to peer level because the conventional banking system and use of fiat money was controlled by the government with their policies, thereby making money and value centralized. When the Bitcoin Genesis Block was mined, it had a reward of 50BTC which is higher than what we have today(6.25BTC).
From the address of the Genesis Block wallet, we see that there are more than 50BTC in the wallet. The wallet contains 68.4BTC as at this time. This is because bitcoin enthusiasts frequently send some coins to the address as a sort of tribute to the founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. This is their way of thanking him for the Bitcoin project which has impacted many lives.
The other block of the Bitcoin was mined 6 days after the Genesis Block instead of the normal 10 minutes. Some crypto enthusiasts believed that this delay was as a result of trying to check for flaws of the new technology while some believed it mimicked the Story of the world being created in 6 days.
The Bitcoin Genesis Block had a secret message left by the founder on the coin base transaction. The message read "times 03/jan/2009 chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks". Bitcoin enthusiasts believed that the message reemphasized the goal of bitcoin Which is to be different from the already existing failed banking system.
I used the translation tool provided to translate the hex for myself, below is the screenshot
I clicked on the link provided. I saw this

I edited the previous text there and pasted the hex and it was translated as shown by the professor.

Significance of bitcoin genesis block

1. The Bitcoin Genesis Block is a model for every other block chain. It's like a pace setter. It sets the order and criteria to be met by the new block to be mined
2. Bitcoin led to the birth of other crypto currencies. It's success has led to the creation of over 10,000 other crypto currencies 12 years after it's creation.
3. It was an awakening of a new technology. It opened doors of possibilities and the application of blockchain in the real world which has solved several problems in around the world.

Go to https://steemworld.org and locate the Steem Genesis Block (You must provide screenshots and sign in as proof of completion).

I logged into the site

Clicked on block explorer

Clicked ok

Clicked on sign in at the top right corner

Inserted my username and posting key

Signed in.

Conclusion

Thank you professor @awesononso for this beautiful lecture. I've really learnt alot about the genesis block of the Block chain.
It's the foundation of other blocks on the block chain. It gives the order and criteria to be met by new Blocks to be mined.
The Bitcoin genesis block is of great significant because it's birth and success had led the creation of other crypto currencies and was an awakening of a new technology which it's application and possibilities in our real world has solved problems around the world.
I also learnt to find our steemit genesis block and to sign it.