If you run a Bitcoin full node, you have access to every transaction and block that was ever created on the network. This also allows you to look at the content of, say, the genesis block. The first block ever created, over 10y ago.

Retrieving the genesis block

First, you can ask for the block hash by providing it the block height. As with everything in computer science, arrays and block counts start at 0.

You use command getblockhash to find the correct hash.

$ bitcoin-cli getblockhash 0
000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f

Now you have the block hash that matches with the first ever block.

You can now request the full content of that block using the getblock command.

$ bitcoin-cli getblock 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
{
  "hash": "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f",
  "confirmations": 572755,
  "strippedsize": 285,
  "size": 285,
  "weight": 1140,
  "height": 0,
  "version": 1,
  "versionHex": "00000001",
  "merkleroot": "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b",
  "tx": [
    "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b"
  ],
  "time": 1231006505,
  "mediantime": 1231006505,
  "nonce": 2083236893,
  "bits": "1d00ffff",
  "difficulty": 1,
  "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100010001",
  "nTx": 1,
  "nextblockhash": "00000000839a8e6886ab5951d76f411475428afc90947ee320161bbf18eb6048"
}

This is the only block that doesn’t have a previousblockhash, all other blocks will have one as they form the chain itself. But, the first block can’t have a previous one.

Retrieving the first and only transaction from the genesis block

In this block, there is only one transaction included. The one with the hash 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b. This is a coinbase transaction, it’s the block reward for the miner for solving the math-puzzle in this block.

[...]
  "tx": [
    "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b"
  ],
[...]

Let’s have a look at what’s in there, shall we?

$ bitcoin-cli getrawtransaction 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b
The genesis block coinbase is not considered an ordinary transaction and cannot be retrieved

Ah, sucks! This is a special kind of transaction, but we’ll see there’s a way to find the details of it later on.

Getting more details from the genesis block

We retrieved the block details using the getblock command, but there’s actually more details in that block than initially shown. You can get more verbose output by adding the 2 at the end of the command, indicating you want a json object with transaction data.

$ bitcoin-cli getblock 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f 2
{
  "hash": "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f",
  "confirmations": 572758,
  "strippedsize": 285,
  "size": 285,
  "weight": 1140,
  "height": 0,
  "version": 1,
  "versionHex": "00000001",
  "merkleroot": "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b",
  "tx": [
    {
      "txid": "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b",
      "hash": "4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b",
      "version": 1,
      "size": 204,
      "vsize": 204,
      "weight": 816,
      "locktime": 0,
      "vin": [
        {
          "coinbase": "04ffff001d0104455468652054696d65732030332f4a616e2f32303039204368616e63656c6c6f72206f6e206272696e6b206f66207365636f6e64206261696c6f757420666f722062616e6b73",
          "sequence": 4294967295
        }
      ],
      "vout": [
        {
          "value": 50.00000000,
          "n": 0,
          "scriptPubKey": {
            "asm": "04678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5f OP_CHECKSIG",
            "hex": "4104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac",
            "reqSigs": 1,
            "type": "pubkey",
            "addresses": [
              "1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa"
            ]
          }
        }
      ],
      "hex": "01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ffffffff4d04ffff001d0104455468652054696d65732030332f4a616e2f32303039204368616e63656c6c6f72206f6e206272696e6b206f66207365636f6e64206261696c6f757420666f722062616e6b73ffffffff0100f2052a01000000434104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac00000000"
    }
  ],
  "time": 1231006505,
  "mediantime": 1231006505,
  "nonce": 2083236893,
  "bits": "1d00ffff",
  "difficulty": 1,
  "chainwork": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000100010001",
  "nTx": 1,
  "nextblockhash": "00000000839a8e6886ab5951d76f411475428afc90947ee320161bbf18eb6048"
}

Aha, that’s more info!

Now, you’ll notice there is a section with details of the coinbase transaction. It shows the 50BTC block reward, and even though we can’t retrieve it with getrawtransaction, the data is still present in the genesis block.

"vout": [
        {
          "value": 50.00000000,
          "n": 0,
          "scriptPubKey": {
            "asm": "04678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5f OP_CHECKSIG",
            "hex": "4104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac",
            "reqSigs": 1,
            "type": "pubkey",
            "addresses": [
              "1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa"
            ]
          }
        }
      ],

Satoshi’s Embedded Secret Message

I’ve always heard that Satoshi encoded a secret message in the first genesis block. Let’s find it?

In our extensive output, there’s a hex line in the block.

"hex": "01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ffffffff4d04ffff001d0104455468652054696d65732030332f4a616e2f32303039204368616e63656c6c6f72206f6e206272696e6b206f66207365636f6e64206261696c6f757420666f722062616e6b73ffffffff0100f2052a01000000434104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac00000000"

If we transform this hexadecimal format to a more readable ASCII form, we get this:

$ echo "01000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000ffffffff
4d04ffff001d0104455468652054696d65732030332f4a616e2f32303039204368616e63656c6c6f72206f6e20
6272696e6b206f66207365636f6e64206261696c6f757420666f722062616e6b73ffffffff0100f2052a010000
00434104678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f3
5504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5fac00000000" | xxd -r -p

����M��EThe Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks�����*CAg���UH'g�q0�\֨(�9	�yb��a޶I�?L�8��U���\8M�
        �W�Lp+k�_�

This confirms there is indeed a message in the form of “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks", referring to a newspaper headline at the time of the genesis block.