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Happy New Year, and Happy 12th Genesis Block anniversary! The Genesis Block timestamps the beginning of the Bitcoin blockchainand since Bitcoin SV (BSV) is the only blockchain that still maintains Bitcoins original protocol, its BSVs holiday alone to celebrate.

The Bitcoin Genesis Block is also known as Block #0, and was not mined in the way subsequent Bitcoin blocks were. Instead it was constructed by creator Satoshi Nakamoto, aka Dr. Craig S. Wright, as a reference point and hard coded into the protocol software, using a key value pre-computed externally. Bitcoin Block #1, mined six days later using the protocols proof-of-work algorithm after Satoshi released the software to the public, marks the true beginning of Bitcoin as we know it today. You can read more details and trivia on Bitcoins birth story here.

Satoshis easter egg

We cant talk about the Bitcoin Genesis Block without mentioning the now-famous easter egg Satoshi coded into the original 50 Bitcoin coinbase. It reads:

The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.

If only government bank bailouts were our biggest economic problem in 2021! Dr. Wright has said he included this line as a real-world timestamp to mark Bitcoins beginning, and also as a call for accountability and transparency. Bitcoin was created on capitalist principles (sadly lacking in todays economy) with built-in incentives to reflect them. It is neither anti-bank nor anti-government, but exists on a global ledger of truth that would make their decisions and actions more honest, since theyre recorded on the blockchain forever.

On the Genesis Blocks 10th anniversaryin 2019 and less than two months after Bitcoin BSV formally declared its independenceBSV mined a transaction block 103MB in size. This was the first ever Bitcoin block to top 100MB, making a mockery of those who claimed for years that the network couldnt scale.

Restoring the original Bitcoin protocol

Today there are still other blockchains that claim or use the Bitcoin name. The best-known are BTC and BCH. However neither of those chains follow the original protocol rules and may even be using Bitcoins 12-year long transaction database illegally. BSV is the only true version of Bitcoin still in existence today.

BTC officially separated from the Bitcoin blockchain when its developers introduced SegWit, or segregated witness that separated digital signatures from the transaction block data. They also decided to keep transaction blocks limited to 1-4MB in size, and move all but large payments to separate networks (still in development) outside the blockchain.

These changes not only made BTC transactions unfeasibly expensive, but also broke the ability to legally prove Bitcoin ownership, and many transactions. That may have been intentional, or it may have stemmed from a poor understanding of what Bitcoin was supposed to be. It was never meant for anonymous payments and it was never meant to be digital gold, traded but never moved. Bitcoin was designed to be used for millions of transactions a day, and it was designed to be auditable. Without these factors, Bitcoin has no place in the world.

BCH avoided SegWit and tiny blocks, but it had its own plans to change the protocol. So in November 2018, those wishing to keep only the original rules bid them farewell as well. Thus was Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, Bitcoin SV, or BSV, born. BSV developers restored the Bitcoin protocol software as it was originally released in February 2020 with the public release of Genesis. Bitcoin today, as BSV, has no transaction block limits and can handle transactions for around 1/100 of a U.S. cent. Its data processing capabilities are literally unbounded, and the network could one day replace the Internet itself.

With that in mind, its on to Bitcoins proper birthday, which happens in six days time. As we mark these anniversaries, its important to reflect on what Bitcoin is supposed to be for, and why its original rules matter.

New to Bitcoin? Check out CoinGeeksBitcoin for Beginnerssection, the ultimate resource guide to learn more about Bitcoinas originally envisioned by Satoshi Nakamotoand blockchain.

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12 years since the Genesis block: A reminder of what Bitcoin is really about - CoinGeek