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The Genesis Block
First appeared Jan 2009
Why it matters
The embedded newspaper headline both timestamps the chain's birth and signals Bitcoin's motivation — a response to the bank bailouts of the financial crisis.
What it is
Block 0, mined by Satoshi on 3 January 2009. Its coinbase contains the text "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." Its 50 BTC reward is unspendable by the rules of the software.