Home / Events / The genesis block
Jan 3, 2009 The genesis block
On January 3, 2009, the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain was created. Bitcoin’s own calendar starts on this day.
- Date
- Jan 3, 2009
- Block
- 0
- Reward
- 50 BTC
What happened
Block 0, the genesis block, paid out 50 BTC to a reward address that can never be spent. Inside it Satoshi left a headline from The Times of London: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
The message is both a timestamp and a statement of purpose. Days later, on January 9, the first public software release followed, and on January 12 the first transaction moved 10 BTC from Satoshi to the developer Hal Finney.
Why it mattered
The genesis block is why this site exists: the age of Bitcoin is counted from January 3, 2009. The Bitcoin Memorial on this domain is built around that moment.
BitcoinYears.com is for sale
A short, memorable domain for Bitcoin news, history, data and media. Serious inquiries welcome.