Bitcoin Genesis Block

Overview

The genesis block (Block 0) is the foundational block of the Bitcoin blockchain. It was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009 and is hardcoded into every Bitcoin node. It has no predecessor and contains only one transaction – the coinbase transaction that created the first 50 BTC (which remain permanently unspendable due to a deliberate code choice).

View this block live on explorers: mempool.space blockchain.com blockstream.info

Block Header (80 bytes)

The block header is double-SHA256 hashed to produce the block hash.

• Version: 1 (0x01000000)
• Previous block hash: 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
• Merkle root: 3ba3edfd7a7b12b27ac72c3e67768f617fc81bc3888a51323a9fb8aa4b1e5e4a
• Timestamp: 1231006505 (January 3, 2009 18:15:05 UTC)
• Bits (difficulty target): 0x1d00ffff (ffff001d in little-endian)
• Nonce: 2083236893 (1dac2b7c)

Block Hash (double SHA-256 of header):

000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f

Coinbase Transaction (only transaction in the block)

• Version: 1
• Input count: 1
• Input:
  • Previous output: all zeros
  • Output index: -1 (0xffffffff)
  • ScriptSig (77 bytes): 04ffff001d010445The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks
  • Sequence: 0xffffffff
• Output count: 1
• Output:
  • Value: 50 BTC (5,000,000,000 satoshis)
  • ScriptPubKey (67 bytes): 4104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac
• Locktime: 0

Full serialized coinbase transaction hex (approx. 204 bytes):

01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ffffffff4d04ffff001d0104455468652054696d65732030332f4a616e2f32303039204368616e63656c6c6f72206f6e206272696e6b206f66207365636f6e64206261696c6f757420666f722062616e6b73ffffffff0100f2052a01000000434104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac00000000

Key Special Properties

• Hardcoded in Bitcoin Core source code (no network discovery needed)
• Previous block hash is all zeros
• Only one transaction (coinbase)
• The 50 BTC reward is permanently unspendable
• Embedded newspaper headline serves as timestamp proof and commentary on the 2008 financial crisis
• Full serialized block size: 285 bytes