CRYPTOCURRENCY ACADEMY/SEASON 3/ WEEK 2/HOMEWORK POST FOR PROFESSOR @awesononso ON THE GENESIS BLOCK: THE BEGINNING OF THE BEGINNING / BY @lukman1
Hello fellow steemians, it's a pleasure to be here once again to submit my assignment for this week's course which was lectured by Professor @awesononso. Thanks a lot for this great lecture Prof. My submission below.
What is the Genesis Block of a Blockchain
The term Genesis block consists of two important words which I think it would be much better to know the meaning of each of the words before giving an apt definition for the term.
GENESIS: This simple has to do with how something is formed. Someone can decide to say that genesis means, the origin or root of something. Another way someone can define genesis is the coming into existence of a particular thing.
BLOCK: Generally, in the layman's understanding, a block can be described as something in a form of a solid material. The solid material can be wood, rock or Stone but with each side surfaces being flat.
Now, since we know the meaning of the two words that make up the term, what's now Genesis block?
Genesis block is the first ever block in any cryptographic or digital ledger based protocol.
Cryptographic or digital ledger is the same as blockchain. The genesis block is the fundamentals on which there is the addition of other blocks to form a chain of blocks, thus the name blockchain.
This block(genesis block) is mostly referred to as either Block 0 or Block 1.
There is one amazing thing which distinguish the genesis block from other blocks. This distinguishing factor is, when it comes to any other block in a blockchain, references are stored to the previous blocks. But in the case of the genesis block, references are not stored to the previous block.
This means that the "old hash" value of the genesis block is set to zero in technical terms. This further explained that, there was nothing like processed data before the genesis block.
The sequence numbers of all other blocks start from 1, and the previous or old hash is set to the hash of the previous blocks.
The hash value of the genesis block is added to all the new transactions in the new block. This combination helps it to create its unique hash.
The number used to indicate the order of the blocks is called the block height number. The genesis block starts from 0.
Write on the Bitcoin Genesis block of a blockchain and give it's significance.
There are currently numerous genesis block of a blockchain in the system. We were privileged to have been thought three of the genesis block of a blockchain in the lecture. I will be talking about the Bitcoin genesis block.
The bitcoin genesis block of a blockchain is by far the most famous genesis block which is called the Bitcoin chain. The bitcoin chain was created on January 3rd by Satoshi Nakamoto.
Satoshi Nakamoto is a Japanese by nationality.
This means that Bitcoin was born on 3rd January, 2009 and it was on a Saturday.
As we all know that, each and and everyone of us have a day we were given birth to. It's the same as bitcoin. Bitcoin has its birth date which I mentioned above.
But one interesting thing is that, there have been arguments on the birthday of bitcoin, many are arguing that the very first day it was mined represents the birthday of Bitcoin whilst others are also believe that the actual birthday of Bitcoin was three months earlier. That is, the very first day the Bitcoin white paper was released.
It was on this day the first set of BTC was mined into being! The BTC mined was 50BTC.
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The Bitcoin blockchain represents the first example of a peer-to-peer(P2P) digital currency protected by strong encryption principles.
The genesis block of Bitcoin was originally called Block 1, but we now describe it as block 0. The letters usually attached to the block refers to the block height. That is, the distance to the first block.
As I indicated earlier, the first ever block mined was rewarded with exactly 50BTC. However, due to block rewards that have been continuously halved over the years, newly mined blocks now only generates 6.25BTC as a reward.
Usually, this subsidy is allocated to the miners who are responsible for successful extracting the relevant block, and they can then use it at will.
But the genesis block is an exception to this rule. Although the reward was transferred to a usual address: '1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmV7DivfNa'. But it cannot be spent.
- Bitcoin is considered to be the most famous cryptocurrency since its birth. It is not only the first and and most famous cryptocurrency but also the most successful cryptocurrency in the world right now. Currently, bitcoin's value is more than 10 times of the second famous cryptocurrency (Ethereum). The successfulness of Bitcoin creation encouraged other people to come out with various crypto coins. So Bitcoin can be considered as the father of all cryptocurrencies.
- The knowledge and idea of blockchain existed for years before the discovery of bitcoin. But the only problem was that it was not put into use. It was after Satoshi Nakamoto discovered bitcoin that the knowledge and technology of blockchain was revived from its dormancy. Blockchain technology has offered numerous help to the world in almost our everyday life. One of the most important help is the decentralization of cryptocurrencies from the interference of third parties.
- One important thing about the genesis block I have discovered is that, since data is stored to the previous blocks before a new block is created, there is nothing like corruption since the stored data cannot be altered in anyway. When an attempt is made to change the information stored, the block will cease to function.
Go to https://steemworld.org and locate the Steem Genesis Block (You must provide screenshots and sign in as proof of completion).
Just like every cryptocurrency, the steem coin also has its Genesis block.
The steem Genesis block was created on the 24th day of March,2016. That is, 5 years ago and 7 years after the Bitcoin Genesis block was created.
We can explore the Steem genesis block on https://steemworld.org.
Below is a systematic steps to the steem Genesis block and as well as how to sign in as a steemit user.
Visit the site above using any search engine. I will be using Google chrome.
After opening the site, you will see block explorer. It's the third tool on the site.
Click on it.
- A page will open and you will be required fill in a block number. I will choose to put in 2. You now click on Ok.
- A page opens giving the details of the Genesis block.
- I will now be signing into the system because I am a steemit user. Click on sign in which is highlighted in the screenshot below.
- You will be required to provide your username and your private posting key. Click on okay after providing your particulars.
- You are now signed into the system!
The Bitcoin Genesis block is the father of all cryptocuurencies as its successfulness pushed other people to come out with the numerous crypto coins we have today.
The decentralization of the cryptocuurencies from the interference of third parties has made transactions to be fast and reliable.
I must testify to the fact, I really enjoyed this lecture as it pushed me to do further research on how Bitcoin came into being. This research helped me a lot on coming out with my homework post as I have learned a lot from this lecture. I will say thank you to you Prof @awesononso for this detailed and great lecture.
Thank you!
Hello @steemcurator02, my homework post have been reviewed and graded by Prof @awesononso but it's not yet curated.
I will be hoping to see your curation soon. This is the link to my homework post.
https://steemit.com/hive-108451/@lukman1/crypto-academy-season-3-week-2-homework-post-for-professor-awesononso-on-the-genesis-block-the-beginning-of-the-beginning-by
Thank you