Messages hidden in blocks
The first transaction in every block pays the miner. It has a small free space, and miners write in it. Usually just their name. Sometimes more.
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Famous messages
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#0Genesis block · January 3, 2009The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks
Satoshi quoted that day's front page. It proves the block wasn't made earlier, and says why Bitcoin exists.
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#210,000First halving · November 28, 2012/P2SH//slush/
Slush Pool mined it. "/P2SH/" was a vote for a new address type: the ones starting with 3.
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#420,000Second halving · July 9, 2016Chandler Guo loves YangYang Jin.Mined by zzhhzz
A love note, written into a block everyone keeps forever.
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#481,824SegWit turns on · August 24, 2017/BTCC/ Support /NYA/
The first SegWit block still backed the "New York Agreement", a plan to double the block size. It was dropped that November.
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#629,999Last block before the third halving · May 11, 2020NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Fed's Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue
F2Pool echoed the genesis block with a newspaper headline of its own.
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#840,000Fourth halving · April 20, 2024/ViaBTC/Mined by buzz120/
ViaBTC names the pool member whose machine found the block.
Where is the message?
New bitcoin is created in the block's first transaction, called the coinbase. It has no real input to sign, so its input field is free space of up to 100 bytes. Pools put the block height, some random numbers for mining, and a tag. We show the parts that read as text.