The final Bitcoin block with a subsidy of 12.5 BTC was mined by and contained the following message in its coinbase transaction: As a result, it's become something of a watershed event for the Bitcoin faithful, who celebrate the event with live countdown parties. The event takes place according to preset rules in Bitcoin's code mining rewards are cut in half, and it’s often linked to a surge in price. The 2020 Bitcoin halving messageīitcoin undergoes a drastic reduction in mining rewards every four years, a process known as the halving. The headline refers to further British bank bailouts in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, which Nakamoto used to draw attention to the new, peer-to-peer currency that he hoped would one day replace an imperfect monetary system.

It was included by the protocol’s anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, and consists of the headline from the front page of The Times, Jan 3, 2009: “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.” The message contained in Bitcoin's Genesis block. 1.The Times headline in the Genesis blockīitcoin’s most famous message is contained in the coinbase-the part of a block that is filled in by the blockchain miner-of its very first block. These messages will, arguably, exist for as long as humanity, and projects such as Doomsday Blockchain and Messages from the Mines are set on immortalizing them. Even if Bitcoin were to die, hundreds of thousands of copies of the blockchain would remain. This creative abuse of the most innovative transaction protocol of our times is sure to provide the historians of the future with a unique cultural artifact. As a result, the Bitcoin blockchain has become a vast collection of hidden messages, covering everything from support for protocol changes from Bitcoin’s miners to newspaper headlines, profanities, art, music, and film, together with records of marriages, obituaries, and the birth of at least one child.

Decipher text message 5