5 min read · Jan 9, 2024
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Let’s find out how the first block was created to start the blockchain of the Cryptocurrency Revolution
Versione italiana dell’articolo disponibile Qui; Italian Version available Here.
TL;DR; How was the first block created to kickstart the Bitcoin blockchain?
In Bitcoin’s initial block, famously known as the Genesis Block, Satoshi Nakamoto embedded a message revealing their vision: ‘The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.’
This article delves into the creation process of this foundational block, showcasing how it was set up offline and unveiling the unique peculiarities present only in this revolutionary genesis of the Bitcoin blockchain.
Introduction
Recently, I’ve been revisiting the history of blockchains and cryptocurrencies, and my curiosity was piqued by the inception of a new blockchain and the so-called genesis blocks. We know that a blockchain, in its various iterations and specializations found active in the world today, is comprised of a chain of information blocks where transaction details are recorded to create a comprehensive ledger. Each block is linked to the next using hashes of the information, and these hashes are embedded in the subsequent blocks, forming the chain and ensuring one of its fundamental properties — immutability. This, in turn, guarantees the non-repudiation and irreversibility of the transactions contained within (at this stage, we’re not considering the consensus mechanisms used in distributed ledgers to identify the valid fork of a blockchain).
However, there’s one block that stands apart from all the others: the first block in the chain.
What makes this block special? How is the chain initiated? How many nodes are required to start a distributed ledger? What resides within the initial blocks of the most prominent crypto blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot, and so on?
The first block of the Bitcoin chain
Let’s start from the chain that initiated the entire blockchain world as we know it today — Bitcoin: Satoshi Nakamoto’s whitepaper dates back to October 2008, titled ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,’ while the first block was mined in January 2009, specifically on January 3, 2009, at 7:15 PM.
At the time of the generation of the first block, clients (applications that today we call wallets) were not yet publicly available and the block was generated by the “satoshi” miner as stated in the block.
In fact, at the time of launch there was only one node, that of Satoshi, only later will other miners be added.
The peculiarities of the first Bitcoin block
The mining process of the Genesis Block differed from mining subsequent blocks because there were no previous transactions to include in the block. Consequently, Satoshi manually created the Genesis Block without including any transactions. The block was then mined by the validator to kickstart the chain, but it was prepared using hash calculation functions and values that would later form the core of Bitcoin mining, leveraging these processes offline.
This Block includes other peculiarities :
- Previous Block (previous_block): in the Genesis Block, this field is made up of zeros since there are no previous blocks.
- Difficulty: the first block had a difficulty of 1 which made mining the block executable on hardware very simple (The first difficulty adjustment occurred after the first 2016 blocks, or around March 2009, up to the order of tens of trillion current)
- Not Redeemable Rewards: the 50 Bitcoin rewards for mining the block are not redeemable and are omitted from the transaction database, so any attempt to use these BTC will be rejected by the network; it is unknown whether this was intentional or not.
- Coinbase Message: the “scriptSig” field contains the message quoted in the Genesis Block: “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”
The message hidden in the first Bitcoin block
Much speculation has surrounded the inclusion of this phrase within the first block, which has never been directly explained. Various analysts’ opinions can be found online; the more credible ones suggest, on one hand, a message primarily directed at banks and governments, reaffirming Satoshi’s aim to create a system allowing people to avoid having their money in the hands of banks. On the other hand, some interpret it as a more technical motivation — demonstrating that the code wasn’t generated prior to that moment.
Another peculiar aspect of Bitcoin’s inception is that the second block was mined six days later (on January 9, 2009). This is technically due to a combination of factors related to difficulty adjustment and the presence of a single miner (the algorithm adjusts to attempt mining a block approximately every 10 minutes).
An amusing theory found online about this second block suggests that Satoshi might have been referencing the six days God takes to create the world in the book of Genesis.
The first Bitcoin transaction
To arrive at the first real transaction between two addresses we had to wait a few more days, when the first bitcoin client was published (9 January 2009) and at block 170 on 12 January 2009 the first transaction of 10 bitcoins between two addresses took place.
Another thing that we are now used to seeing in the launch of the most recent blockchains is the presence of multiple phases and one or more test chains that anticipate the mainnet; this did not happen on bitcoin, the chain we read today is the one started by Satoshi without publicly known test networks (the tests were performed locally on small networks); the testnet, as we know it today, was first introduced in September 2010 (block 79,764). This allowed developers to run more robust tests and share experiences without having to use the Bitcoin mainnet.
References:
https://decrypt.co/56934/the-bitcoin-genesis-block-how-it-all-started
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/blocks/btc/0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bitcoin
https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2023/01/03/the-genesis-block-the-first-bitcoin-block/
