Genesis Wallet Address and Bitcoin That Can't Be Spent

So, something clicked recently and reminded me of a reply I got on one of my old threads. The discussion was about inactive wallets that still hold some Bitcoin. One reply really caught my eye. In that reply, I pointed out that the Genesis address holds around 99.85 BTC and is basically just sitting there. It's true there's a chunk of Bitcoin that can't be spent, but what's the reason for that? And what about the rest of the balance on that address? A lot of folks seem to think the Genesis address is stuck with just 50 BTC that can't be touched. But nobody really talks about whether more can be added and what happens to those extra coins. Talking about the Genesis Block and Address, it’s basically the cornerstone of the whole crypto scene. It’s the first block that kicks off the whole blockchain setup, linking other blocks through cryptographic methods to store transaction data. The Genesis block sets a precedent for how other blocks should operate, meaning any features implemented in that first block should also apply to the linked ones, unless there are unique situations like mining difficulty.

Because Bitcoin works on coins, not on addresses. You have the first coin, which is in this particular output: https://mempool.space/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b#vout=0 You have transaction 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b and output index 0. If it would be present in the database of all coins, then it would be normally spendable, as all other coins are. However, the Bitcoin client initially started from the empty database. And initially, there was no such thing as "the Genesis Block". You started creating the whole chain from scratch, from zero "previous block hash". And then, Satoshi created the first block, and hardcoded it in the client. He simply put a rule, that "the block 000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f has to be there as the first block". But: he didn't add the transaction 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b to the database! Which means, that the block is there, but the coins are not. And if you create a valid transaction, which will spend the UTXO 4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b:0, then it will be rejected by all nodes, because this UTXO is not in the database of all spendable coins. It can be normally moved anywhere, without any restrictions, as long as you can produce a valid signature. Just because the next coins were created in the next blocks, and are just regular Scripts. They can be normally moved. To test that, you can create a regtest chain, where you can replace Satoshi's address with your own, and just test it. Also, many altcoins can prove you that, for example in Litecoin, you have this address: https://blockchair.com/litecoin/address/Ler4HNAEfwYhBmGXcFP2Po1NpRUEiK8km2 and as you can see, it is normally spendable in other transactions, except 97ddfbbae6be97fd6cdf3e7ca13232a3afff2353e29badfab7f73011edd4ced9. No, because it is P2PK, and it contains only 50,01004040 BTC: https://mempool.space/address/04678afdb0fe5548271967f1a67130b7105cd6a828e03909a67962e0ea1f61deb649f6bc3f4cef38c4f35504e51ec112de5c384df7ba0b8d578a4c702b6bf11d5f However, P2PKH version was always fully spendable, and contains 49,99353524 BTC: https://mempool.space/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa Yes. Yes, you can test it in your own regtest, or by exploring many altcoins like Litecoin, which copy-pasted the same code, related to the Genesis Block, and used just their own public keys, instead of Satoshi's key. Yes, it is only limited to the coins from the first transaction, which is https://mempool.space/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b Yes, you can burn your coins by sending them into OP_RETURN. Also, when it comes to miners, they can claim less coins than allowed, and then they are irreversibly burned. For example, this miner burned a single satoshi, and all transaction fees in block 124724 in this transaction: https://mempool.space/tx/5d80a29be1609db91658b401f85921a86ab4755969729b65257651bb9fd2c10d

1. & 3. Yes, just the genesis block's coinbase transaction output, not those other transactions. And it's not even related to the address in question because it's P2PK; "Pay-to-Public-Key" which basically means (in layman terms) that it's sent to a public key rather than an address. Most Blockexplorers just link P2PK outputs to the address derived from its public key. (your screenshot) So the main reason for this topic doesn't make sense in a technical perspective. 2. Since yes, those other UTXO are unrelated to the transaction output in the genesis block, those are basically regular outputs. If someone owns the private key or if someone managed to produce the same hash from a different public key that they own, they will be able to spend it. 4. No one asked if it's purposely made non-spendable. And if you mean by "do the same" to new coinbase transactions or ordinary transactions, then no. It's not transformed in some special way, the output is the same as other P2PK outputs. But the problem is any client that the majority of Bitcoin nodes use is designed to not include it to the UTXO set (chainstate), so even if you can spend it, nodes wont find that UTXO from their database.

Last week I was curious about what could be the the total transactions on the first block of the blockchain To my surprise all i could found was 1 input, 1output I was also going to make a similar post but I guess This: and this: did explained it all to me...

You've just provided the necessary answers to all my questions. The examples you gave were enough to back your explanation which made the entire reply understandable. Just learnt something new, and i think anyone who comes under this thread can also learn something. I will be locking this thread in the next two four hours as answers has already been provided by vjudeu and nc50lc. Room still available for those with contributions.

Just to clarify, every UTXO in the genesis public key is spendable, except for the 50 bitcoin reward from the genesis block.  If you lock coins to satoshi's public key (P2PK), those coins can be spent normally.  It's specifically the coinbase reward from the genesis block that is unspendable.  The 0.01004040 bitcoins are spendable.  The miner can choose to reward themselves and then burn the coins in a separate transaction, or they can simply reward themselves 0 coins.  Both options are possible and achieve essentially the same outcome.