Glossary
Genesis Block
The first block of a blockchain, hard-coded into the protocol — it has no parent and anchors the rest of the chain.
The genesis block is block 0. It is not produced by mining or validation; it is encoded directly in the node software so that every client starts from the same state.
The Bitcoin genesis block, mined on January 3, 2009, embeds the headline "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" in its coinbase — a timestamping trick and a now-famous political message.