Genesis Block Day: Bitcoin turns 14

In a remarkable achievement for individual monetary sovereignty, the Bitcoin blockchain has officially been running for 14 years this week.

The 2022 streak of bankruptcies and price declines has not thwarted the network in any material way.

January 3rd is known as Bitcoin Genesis Day, marking the first block of BTC ever mined by Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2009. This historic day paved the way for the cryptocurrency sector as we know it today.

The first block on the network hosts one transaction – the 50 BTC block reward – sent to the pseudonymous creator for mining it. These original rewards have yet to be touched.

‘Chancellor on the Brink of Second Bailout for Banks’

The Genesis block reflects Satoshi’s rejection of centralized finance epitomized by the current fiat system. Using cryptography and a mathematically verifiable digital system, Satoshi encoded his beliefs in what would become the decentralized pillars that form the bedrock of all crypto.

In the American-led great financial crash in 2007, people’s faith in banks was shaken to the core. The climactic unravelling of the global economy was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. But Satoshi didn’t stop there. Before disappearing, he secretly coded the block with an ‘Easter egg’ of information.

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

The text is a headline article in the London Times about the British government’s failure to stimulate the economy post-2007-08. The symbolic text was put in the creation of the genesis block on the same day as news of a bank bailout broke.

Bitcoin was originally designed to replace financial institutions which are considered too big to fail. Unlike traditional banks, there are no Bitcoin bailouts. There is no middleman, no third party or any entity that comes between a buyer and a seller.

Bitcoin remains king

Doomsayers and mainstream media have taken every opportunity to declare Bitcoin dead since its inception. So far, Bitcoin obituaries has recorded 467 noteworthy quotes declaring the crypto dead. Despite major swings in the asset’s value during major bear and bull markets, bitcoin is still popular over a decade later.

In fact, Bitcoin remains the most searched cryptocurrency ever. While data from Nasdaq and Ycharts shows a fourfold uptick in recorded transactions for Ethereum (including layer 2s), there is no dethroning the King.