How were the first bitcoin generated?

[Eildosa]

Hi,
this troubles me,

from what I understood :
Miners validate transactions betwenn bitcoin users and are rewarded bitcoins which are generated by the bitcoin network.

Then how could the first bitcoin be generated since there was no bitcoin to do any transaction?

Thanks.

[Rannasha]

A miner can include a special transaction paying out the so called block subsidy (plus any transaction fees paid for transactions in the block) in a block he finds. The block subsidy consists of new coins. The value of this subsidy started at 50 BTC, is currently 25 BTC and is halved roughly every 4 years.

[TimS]

Hi,
this troubles me,

from what I understood :
Miners validate transactions betwenn bitcoin users and are rewarded bitcoins which are generated by the bitcoin network.

Then how could the first bitcoin be generated since there was no bitcoin to do any transaction?

Thanks.

Miners are rewarded for finding valid blocks. Every block must contain a "coinbase" transaction that pays the miner a reward. Blocks don't need to contain other transactions.

The first ordinary transaction wasn't until block 170. Before that, each block contained only the coinbase.

[Eildosa]

So if nobody was using the bitcoin network beside one miner, this miner would still have been able to mine everything alone?

[chennan]

Genesis block is established at 18:15:05 GMT. It is just included the block reward 50 BTC, no transaction at all.
https://blockchain.info/block-index/14849/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f

[DannyHamilton]

So if nobody was using the bitcoin network beside one miner, this miner would still have been able to mine everything alone?

Correct.

[Mobius]

So if nobody was using the bitcoin network beside one miner, this miner would still have been able to mine everything alone?

You just described Satoshi.