Yesterday, Jan. 3, marks 10 years since the creation of the very 1st block on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain.
Known in additional technical parlance as a “genesis block,” the primary block on a blockchain is unique in that it — logically — contains no relation to any previous blocks, and is often hard-coded into the network’s software package, establishing all of the mandatory variables required to form the following blockchain.
Whereas Bitcoin’s theoretical foundations were set with the publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper on October. 31, 2008, Jan. 3, 2009 heralds the 1st practical implementation of the world’s first cryptocurrency — the realization of a peer-to-peer and cryptographically secure system for transacting in digital money.
As information from the Bitcoin Block explorer tool indicates, block 0 — counted as block 1 in very early versions of the blockchain — was well-mined on January 3, 2009 at 1:15:05 p.m. EST, with a reward of 50 BTC. Today, the reward would be worth almost $191,350, however at the time its price was incomputable — Bitcoin’s 1st ever recorded trading value was noted on Mar. 17, 2010, on the now-defunct trading platform bitcoinmarket.com, at a price of $0.003.
The cryptocurrency’s discoverer — the still-mysterious person or collective known solely as Satoshi Nakamoto — embedded the positional notation code of the genesis block’s coinbase with an encrypted Times headline from January 3, 2009, referencing the bailout of the United Kingdom’s banks. When decoded, this covert nod to the economic and political context that gave the new motivation for the coin’s invention reads as follows:
“The Times 3rd January 2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”
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The aftermath of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in fall 2008 had been the tipping purpose for economic turmoil, world recession and, later on, the controversial “too huge to fail” rationale for state intervention. Within the midst of this context, Nakamoto’s innovation proposed a bold alternative — a disintermediated, non-state-controlled digital exchange and store valuable — to the ailing incumbent system.
Ten years on, the mystery enshrouding Bitcoin’s discoverer remains as impenetrable as ever. Those each within and without the crypto community began trying to see Nakamoto’s identity as early as October 2011, simply a few months after the mysterious figure 1st went silent.
As of press time, Bitcoin is trading at $3,831 — up 127,699,900 % since its 1st recorded traded price.
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