Steemit Crypto Academy Season 4 Beginners' course - Task 3: The Genesis Block by @vibrant6689
QUESTIONS
1a) WHAT IS THE GENESIS BLOCK?
b) WHAT ARE THE SIGNIFICANCES OF THE GENESIS BLOCK?
c) EXPLORE THE BITCOIN GENESIS BLOCK AND INDICATE HOW MANY TRANSACTIONS SO FAR AND THE number OF BITCOINSTHE
1. WHAT IS THE GENESIS BLOCK?
The term "Crypto currency" and "blockchain" is no longer a new word to an average advanced human being all over the world compared to about 13 years ago when it was only few people that knew about it.
Let's pay a visit to some years ago when a person or group of persons identified as Satoshi Nakamoto brought to light the ( the Genesis block) which is the first Blockchain technology in January 2009.
From this day was the bigginning of breakthrough in the crypro world.
So, lets keep abreast as we dive properly into a remarkable something that happened on 03-01-2009.
Therefore,
What is Genesis Block?
Biblically, definition of genesis simply means beginning or Starting.
That's to say that before everyother blocks were created, the Genesis block was already in existence. In other words, it is the first block that was created, and so, it is known as BLOCK 0.
That to say that, other subsequent blocks becomes it's decendants while the Block 0 itself is the ancestor. Just like in family lineage, by the features and characteristics of an offspring, you can trace down it's origin to it's root. Same thing is applicable here. All other subsequent blocks as created has a traceable feature from the and or/to the Genesis block.
Just as we are meant to know in the beginning about the existence of A name, "Satoshi Nakamoto" and also the contributions in the crypto world by bringing to limelight, the first ever blockchain and also the first cryptocurrency "Bitcoin" but what we do not know is if it's a he or she, a person or group of persons.
Features Of The Genesis Block
It's already an established that the Genesis Block is undisputably the bigginning of all other blocks. It's characterised with some amazing features which distinct it from subsequent blocks.
Let's see some of the features:
- 50BTC as the Account of BTC mined
From record, it's noted that the first volume of Bitcoin that Satoshi mined was 50bitcoin.
At the the period it was created, Bitcoin have not got any value as it were even when compared to fiat currency, so Satoshi immediately after minning it, transferred the 50BTC to an address. This address is what Satoshi has encoded so that the 50BTC in it had remained unaccessible by anyone.
However, it's not really clear if encoding of the address by Satoshi was intentional or if it was a code malfunction.
- The inscription On The genesis block
One of the amazing attributes of the block 0 is the presence of an inscription which was intentionally left in it. It reads, The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brint of second bailout for banks
Also, this particular message was found on the article of London Times 03/01/2009.
The emphasy of this article was on how British government bailedout banks. This article was one of the scenerios that was connecting to identity of Satoshi.
The way financial matters is been managed by the middle man and especially the activities of the central government has been biased, hence, some people are even been denied accessibility to public funds.
Therefore, it was seen that the emergence of the BTC was necessary to fill this vacuum. To promote equality to fund accessibility.
- How long it took to mine the next block
It's already known worldwide that it takes only 10 minutes to mine bitcoin, but after the first Blockchain was minned, it took upto 6 days before the second block[block1]. Though most people reasoned it was a calculated attempt to observe the stability of the technology, that's is just an assumption though, however, the reason for that long interval is till date still unclear.
- Tributes
It's no longer a story that Bitcoin minners do remit some volume of Bitcoin to the Genesis block address as a way of expressing gratitude to Satoshi Nakamoto for the innovation.
b) What Are The Significances Of The Genesis Block?
- Official resurcitation and launching of Blockchain technology
Concern as regards to the need for a blockchain technology has been a subject of consideration since many years ago, far back as early 90s.
Let's take some steps a backward where we have great personalities like Scott Storneta and Stuart Haber who made their own contributions on blockchain technology through research as early as 1990s.
Also, a great man and crypto enthusiasm, Hel Finny is another figure who has contributed immeasurably in the world of cryptocurrency by introducing a system known as reusable proof of work. It is a digital prototype for digital cash system.
His commitment and contribution to the development of Bitcoin had brought him on the list of people suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
However, along the line, the echoes for blockchain had gone low as though the ideas was dieing. Thanks to introduction of the Genesis block that came just in time and brought it back to life.
- Sunrise of a new dawn in world's Finance and economy
2009 will always be a remarkable year. A year that took part in the invention and rising of a leading cryptocurrency "BITCOIN". The arrival of bitcoin was a massive paradigm shift and positive turnaround in the world financial system.
Launching of the Genesis block brought along with it a unit system of financial transaction where the activities of a middle man was outrightly eradicated. This is a very good system that had deleted the corrupt banking centralized systems.
- Ancestor of other blocks (Reference Block)
The Genesis block been the first ever block that is created in which other blocks emanates from it now stands as the forefather of the subsequent blocks. Since the block is structured so that incoming blocks are not created in isolation but from an existing block, the new block would possess some informations from the parent block. In that way, the Genesis block therefore, serves as a reference point to other blocks.
- Creation of a new exchange medium and new currency
Bitcoin had served as a way paver, so that since 2009 when bitcoin was created till now, different kinds of cryptocurrencies, over 10,000 are in existence. And this is all thanks to the Genesis block which had shown the world that a new way of bitcoin taking over the world is possible.
c) Explore The BITCOIN GENESIS Block And Indicate How Many Transactions So Far And The Number Of Bitcoins.
Below are the procedures on how I was able to carry out this task.
• I copied and pasted this address👇
000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f on the Blockchain explorer official website 👇 search bar.
- After I had pasted the above address and clicked on search, it took me to the next page where I clicked on BTC block👇
- Clicking on the BTC block took me to the main Genesis block. Information contained in the Genesis block are as follows:
From up is the title which is
block 0 and short description of the block, like;
Time and day the block was minned
How much was minned (50BTC)
Net worth of the 50BTC in USD with respect to the current value of BTC today which is $2,110,884.00
The Hash address: 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
Confirmations Number: 702,585
Timestamp: 2009-01-03 19:15
Height: 0
Miner: Unknown
Number of Transactions: 1. which is because as we already know, the 50BTC that was minted was forwarded into an an address where no one can access it.
The transaction hash: 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b
Version: 0x1
Bits: 486,604,799
Weight: 1,140 WU
Size: 285 bytes
Nonce: 2,083,236,893
Transaction Volume: 0.00000000 BTC
Block Reward: 50.00000000 BTC
Fee Reward: 0.00000000 BTC👇
 |  |
|---|
BLOCK TRANSACTIONS
Amount: 50 BTC
Fee: 0.BTC
Hash of the transaction that was carried out: 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b and
To: 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfN
Transaction Date and time: 2009-01-03 19:15👇
S.
NOTE the link attached to the last image is also applicable to all other Screenshots in question "C"
CONCLUSION
The contribution of the Genesis block need no further stressing. With it, development of new blocks is possible and easy courtesy of Satoshi Nakamoto who dimmed it necessary to relaunch it into harnessing of it's full potential.
Regards to Professor @awesononso.