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

This is my homework post for Steemit Crypto Academy Season 3 Week 2 for Professor @awesononso’s lesson The Genesis Block: The Beginning of the Beginning.

What is the Genesis Block of a Blockchain.

As the name implies, the genesis block of a blockchain is the very first block ever created on a particular blockchain. All the next blocks (additional blocks) gets layered one after another with the genesis block as the foundation. Everytime a block is completely mined, then it gives way for a next block. Blocks are "digital containers" where transaction data are permanently recorded. Permanently recorded means that once it is recorded it cannot be erased, removed, or altered. So, the Genesis Block is like the "ancestor" of all the additional blocks contained in a blockchain, so that all additional blocks are related and linked to the Genesis Block.

This picture below might help us understanding the relation between genesis block and additional blocks.

^{The genesis block is the "foundation" of a "blockchain". Picture made by me with Photoshop CS 3.}

Write on the Bitcoin Genesis Block and its significance.

The Bitcoin Genesis Block

The Bitcoin Genesis Block is the very first block ever created on the blockchain technology. The blockchain.com wrote that this block was mined on January 04, 2009 at 1:15 AM GMT+7 by "Unknown". This "Unknown" person who is believed to be an entity who call their name by Satoshi Nakamoto, has bitcoin address at 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. The hash for the block is 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f. The transaction volume of the block is 0 BTC.

^{The detail of the Bitcoin Genesis Block as seen on the Bitcoin Block Explorer on blockchain.com.}

The bitcoin Genesis Block consists of 1 single transaction. The transaction hash is 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b. The summary of this block transaction can bee seen in this picture below. It shows that the block rewarded the miner with a total of 50 BTC base reward and 0 BTC fees. The reward was sent to the the address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa.

^{Summary of the bitcoin block 0 transaction as seen on this page.}

On the blockchain.com Bitcoin Address explorer for the address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa which make the first ever transaction on Bitcoin Blockchain (and by that became the creator of the Bitcoin Genesis Block), we can see that this address has made a total of 2,946 transactions (at the time I performed this task). With the total received as much as 68.44913596 BTC. This address has never sent out any amount of BTC.

Below is the picture of the address summary as seen on the blockchain.com Bitcoin Address explorer for the address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa. On the upper segment of the page (marked number 1) is the summary of the address, while on the lower one (marked number 2) shows us the list of every transaction this address has ben involved with on the Bitcoin blockchain. The transaction list are arranged in descending order (the newest on top most). The latest transaction occured on this address was on 2021-07-09 at 20:24 GMT+7. It was made by bc1qul2k6s3dqwzgsmzllkqql06580j3v9yuclcwaz.

^{The blockchain.com Bitcoin Address explorer for the address 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa.}

The Sifnificance of The Bitcoin Genesis Block

As the very first block ever created on the blockchain technology, the Bitcoin Genesis Block plays a very significant role, not only for the Bitcoin Blockchain but also for the further development of the entire blockchain technology.

It is like a gateway for the further development of blockchain technology which initially aims to foster a more decentralized trading and economic model. The Bitcoin Genesis Block proves that these dreams can come true. The success of Bitcoin Genesis Block mining in January 2009 has made the enthusiasm and passion of blockchain technicians rekindle. Today we see that there are thousands of cryptocurrencies with their own unique features available in the market and generated by various blockchain technologies. So it makes sense when we say that the Bitcoin Genesis Block gave birth for the next development of the blockchain technology, and by that, the promise of the more decentralized economy.

Go to https://steemworld.org and locate the Steem Genesis Block

• When the https://steemworld.org opened, I clicked the [Sign In] button on the upper right corner of the page.
  ^{Signing in to https://steemworld.org.}
• On the appeared pop-up box, I typed my Steemit name dan filled in my Private Posting Key.
  ^{Filling in username and key.}
• I was logged in to steemworld.org as seen on the right corner of the page. To see the block, I clicked on the [Block Explorer] button.
  ^{Logged in and clicking on the Block Explorer button.}
• The Block Explorer tool page opened and the default block number filled was 1. I changed it to 0 to see what will happen and hit the [OK] button to proceed.
  ^{Let's try block number 0.}
• The page came back with the message to enter a valid block number. And the suggested Block Number was back to it's default value : 1. Now I know that the very first block on the Steem Blockchain is Block 1. Okay. I hit the [OK] button.
  ^{There in no Block 0 on Steem Blockchain.}
• The tool showed the page of the data of the very first block mined on Steem Blockchain as seen here.
  ^{The Steem Blockchain Genesis Block.}

The Block Details tab on steemworld.org's Steem Blockhain Explorer shows that the Genesis Block was mined on 24 March 2016 at 23:05:00 GMT+7. The witness who produced it was @initminer. The block ID is 0000000109833ce528d5bbfb3f6225b39ee10086.

The Genesis Block of Steem Blockhain contains no transaction.

^{No transacion on the Steem Blockchain Genesis Block.}

The Virtual Operations tab show us only one record: producer-reward, which is as mush as 1 vests of vesting shares for @initminer.

^{The Virtual Operations on the Steem Blockchain Genesis Block.}

Thanks

Thanks Professor @awesononso for the lesson titled The Genesis Block: The Beginning of the Beginning.

Pictures Sourcing

• The editorial picture was created by me.
• Otherwise stated else, all another pictures were screenshoots and were edited with Photoshop CS 3.

Sources and Reading Suggestion

• https://www.investopedia.com/terms/g/genesis-block.asp;
• https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/facts4eufuture/blockchain-now-and-tomorrow/promising-technology;
• https://imilkom.usu.ac.id/?p=491;
• https://www.blockchain.com/btc/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f;

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My Introductory Post | Artikel Perkenalan Saya.

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^{Picture created by @aneukpineung78}

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