01Definition
The Genesis Block is the hard-coded starting point of Bitcoin’s blockchain. Its coinbase data contains a headline from The Times: a timestamp and a pointed reference to bank bailouts.
02A special block
Block 0 has no predecessor and its original 50 BTC output cannot be spent through the normal transaction database. Later blocks build on its hash, establishing the history that nodes independently verify.
03The embedded headline
The newspaper text proves the block could not have been created before 3 January 2009. It is widely read as commentary on discretionary rescue of the banking system, although the protocol itself does not encode a political interpretation.
⌖Reference points
01
Date: 3 January 2009
02
Height: 0
03
Subsidy: 50 BTC
04
Hard-coded into Bitcoin Core