Genesis block

The coinbase of block 0 contains the text “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”, the front page of The Times (London) that day. It proves the block was not created earlier and is widely read as a comment on the financial system Bitcoin was meant to route around.

The 50 BTC reward of the genesis block cannot be spent: the code never added it to the UTXO set. People still send small amounts to its address as a tribute. 3 January is celebrated as Genesis Day.

Satoshi put that day's front-page headline of The Times (London) into the very first block. It proves the block was not mined before 3 January 2009, and it reads like a comment on the bank bailouts Bitcoin was built to route around. It is now printed on T-shirts, mugs and the occasional tattoo.

Genesis block (block 0) (3 Jan 2009): Block 0 is timestamped 18:15:05 UTC. Its coinbase carries the text “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”. Its 50 BTC reward can never be spent.