genesis-block

Genesis block mined

Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis Block (Block 0) of the Bitcoin blockchain, embedding the now-famous headline from The Times: 'Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.'

Chain Bulletin presents evidence that Satoshi Nakamoto lived in London

Doncho Karaivanov analyzes 742 activity instances across Satoshi's posts, commits, and emails, combined with The Times headline evidence and British spelling conventions, to argue Satoshi was based in London.

The alternative genesis block — Satoshi's pre-release test block from September 2008

SerHack published an analysis of a pre-release Bitcoin genesis block dated September 10, 2008 — discovered in source code Satoshi shared privately in November 2008. The test block had a completely different hash, trivially easy difficulty, and an initial block reward of 10,000 units. The September 10 date coincides with Lehman Brothers announcing $3.9 billion in losses.

Bitcoin Magazine examines the 5-day gap between Genesis Block and Block 1

Pete Rizzo investigates the unexplained ~5-day, 8-hour gap between the Genesis Block (January 3, 2009) and Block 1 (January 9, 2009), framing it as one of Bitcoin's enduring unsolved mysteries.