Crypto Academy Season 3 // The Genesis Block (Homework Submission Post) for Professor @awesononso // By @ononiwujoel
Hi Professor @awesononso, I am @ononiwujoel one of your students in Crypto Academy and a member of the steemit platform. This is my homework submission post from your lecture The Genesis Block: The beginning of the beginning
Introduction
There is a popular saying in my community that claims that you cannot know who you are without knowing your roots (ancestry) and I believe this is true to a very large extent.
One of the most controversial histories we have today is about the origin of life and the human race. We have many versions from divers religious sects and also from scientists and independent historians and there have been lots of arguments and counter-arguement on this subject for centuries. This goes a long way to show how important the information on origin (ancestry) is to people.
Ancestry does not only apply to humanity but also to other things including animals, businesses, nations and also inventions. Now the blockchain technology also has it's ancestry or beginning and this information is important especially to blockchain users. This is the area I'll be focusing on in accordance to the assignment.
What is the Genesis Block of a blockchain?
In order to have a clearer picture of what a Genesis Block represents I'll be breaking the name and describing eack word that makes it up separately.
Genesis:
The word genesis means the root of existence of something. In other words it is the origin or the beginning of something.
There are many definitions for this word but they all gear towards the word "beginning".
Block:
A block in this context is not referring to physical blocks.
A block in blockchain is a digital file in which information and transactions on the blockchain is recorded just like in a ledger.
The blocks connects through the hashtags together to form a blockchain.
Now if we combine these we can say that a Genesis Block is simply the root block or the beginning block of a blockchain.
So this unique block is also the parent which all other blocks in the blockchain are connected to by hashtags.
Every single blockchain in existence today including Bitcoin, Steem, Cardano, Ripple etc. started with a Genesis Block which then serves a role model to all blocks that will be mined after it and connected to it with respect to the blockchain technology system in which it operates. In Bitcoin and several other networks, the Genesis Block is called the block 0 but in other networks including Steem the Genesis Block is called the block 1 although they are all the same thing, and that is the beginning block of the blockchain.
Bitcoin Genesis Block and its Significance
It will be unfair to discuss about Genesis Block without mentioning the Bitcoin Genesis Block because Bitcoin is on record as the first successful cryptocurrency in the crypto industry today so this in turn makes the Bitcoin Genesis Block the oldest of all blocks in the crypto industry.
The Bitcoin Genesis Block is the first block to be mined in Bitcoin blockchain. It was birthed in January 2009 when the first transaction on the blockchain was made by Satoshi Nakamoto the founder of Bitcoin cryptocurrency. When it was mined, the reward for mining it was 50BTC which was then transferred to a wallet owned by same Satoshi Nakamoto where it cannot be spent, maybe because its from the Genesis Block.
We can see all the information on the Bitcoin Genesis Block in the images above and we can also notice that the miner is anonymous and there is no previous hash to this block because its the first or beginning block of the Bitcoin blockchain.
The significance of Bitcoin Genesis Block are many and they include;
The Bitcoin Genesis Block as the root block serves as a guide or role model to how every other block in the blockchain should be organised
As the first ever block in the blockchain industry, it also is the foundation of the high transparency and security in the blockchain technology
It serves as a source of inspiration for the invention of many other blockchain oriented platforms and networks in the world today
The success of the Bitcoin Genesis Block is also a source of confidence for the success of many other blockchains today and the ones yet to come into existence
Explore (Locate) the Steem Genesis Block
I'll now be using my phone to explore the Steem Genesis Block in step by step approach.
- Firstly we open the link https://steemworld.org/
You can click on sign in and enter your account name and posting key
- Now click on Block explorer
- Click on Ok to explore the block 1 (remember in Steem the Genesis Block is block 1)
- And here we can see all the information for the Steem Genesis Block (Block 1)
Conclusion
As students of cryptocurrency, it is very good that we have full knowledge on how the whole crypto and blockchain technology idea commenced so we can know what to expect and what not to expect when using a blockchain.
This lecture was really a big deal to me because before now I didn't know there was anything like a Genesis Block but this topic I believe I now have a better knowledge on blockchain and it now looks easier and more understandable to me and I believe its same for all students that went through this lecture too.
Cc: Professor @awesononso