Crypto Academy Season 3 Week 2 |The Genesis Block: Beginning of the Beginning; by @bibsonhabib

Greetings steemians, in this post I will be writing on the Genesis block and also the bitcoin Genesis block, a homework by professor @awesononso. My warm greetings to him. Let’s get started.

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GENESIS BLOCK

Genesis in meaning can mean first/ beginning. Hence the Genesis block is the first or starting block of the blockchain.

A blockchain as the name suggests is made up of different blocks which are used to store transaction related informations on the blockchain platform.

Every block on the blockchain has a unique header, hence each block is identified by its header hash.

Blocks of a blockchain are stacked on top of one another like the blocks of a building, therefore new blocks are stacked upon the older ones.

Hence in the Genesis block, the block becomes the foundation or starting block upon which other blocks on the blockchain are built on.

The layers of blocks grow in height until the end of the blockchain is reach and it’s sequence is completed. Each time a block is completed, it paves way for the next block to be processed.

Blocks store information permanently, once it is processed, it cannot be altered or removed. The different layers and uniqueness of each sequence is what makes blockchain technology so secure.

Each block in the blockchain also has a unique address called hashes. These hashes store data/information of a block in alphanumeric form. These hashes grant the blockchain it’s anonymous nature.

The Genesis block is the of Bitcoin trading system and is also used as a prototype for other blocks on the blockchain. The Genesis block is referred to as block 0 in modern technology, but was references as 1 in its early days of creation.

Below is the hash of the Genesis block .

Hash: 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f

BITCOIN GENESIS BLOCK

Founded in 2009 by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, the bitcoin Genesis block is the first block of the blockchain system and serve as a foundation on which other blockchain blocks are built upon.

This created Genesis block has then since kick-started the cryptocurrency industry which has since been profitable. The bitcoin blockchain was the first on the Genesis block.

It was created on 3rd January, 2009 at 7:15 pm [+1] GMT by Satoshi Nakamoto who was also the first to mine the block.

When this block was mined there were no modern day tools like bitcoin adaptors, hence the block did not contain any transaction information, it only had the Information of the block reward.

The average time between two transactions on the bitcoin network is 10 minutes.

The timestamp for the next block was 6 days after the first Genesis block. With this piece of information, some researchers believe that Satoshi had mined the genesis block with a timestamp earlier to match the headline of the Time Magazine.

The first block mining reward was 50 BTC. It was rewarded to this address:

Address: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa

However this reward was not withdrawable. Surprisingly the block was mined the same day the Time Magazine published the statement “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks’. Surprisingly, this message is hidden and stored in the genesis block.

This can suggest that Satoshi had a different view of the financial world and therefore seeked to create and change the world of finance by creating a decentralized system of finance.

This statement was also then included into the Genesis blocks raw data by Satoshi. Shortly after the launch of bitcoin, no one knows the whereabouts of Satoshi Nakamoto.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BITCOIN GENESIS BLOCK

Some importance of the bitcoin Genesis block are stated below:

• Produced the first Bitcoin
The bitcoin Genesis block produce the first bitcoins which were 50 in number. These bitcoin have not been transferred since.

•Foundation of decentralized finance

The bitcoin Genesis block was built on the basis of decentralization. This has then led to the creation of decentralized financial system and exchanges where uses do not need any intermediary to transact businesses.

•Led to the creation of the world’s first cryptocurrency, which is bitcoin.

•The bitcoin Genesis block serves as foundation block for the blockchain network on which other block chain platforms are built and operates on.

THE STEEM GENESIS BLOCK

Created in 2016, the steem blockchain has its Genesis block which is referred to as block 1. This block was then mined in March of the same year.
In order to access or get the details of the steemit Genesis block, follow these steps:

•Visit http//:steemworld.org on the Internet.

•Click on sign in button on the top right side of the homepage.

•Enter your username and posting key in the login dialog box, click on ok.

•Once you have signed in click on block Explorer in the different options provided.

•When the block Explorer dialog box opens, input 1 and click on ok.

•The steem Genesis block appears. It contains details such as timestamp, block ID, witness, witness signature, Merkle root, previous block ID etc.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, the Genesis block is a very integral part of the blockchain as it sets validation standards for subsequent blocks on the blockchain network to follow. The Genesis block has provided us with decentralization which has helped solve the problems of needing intermediaries before you can make transactions. It has also given us full access to our funds, great speeds of transactions, low fees and anonymity. The Genesis block has therefore been a game changer to the world and the finance as a whole.

My gratitude to professor @awesononso for this educative assignment. We hope to see more of this educative pieces.

Warm greetings to all the steemit cryptoacademy professors.

Thank you very much for your time.