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The genesis block is the first block in a blockchain, the foundational record from which every subsequent block descends. It is hardcoded into the blockchain's software and serves as the immutable starting point of the entire transaction history. Every node on the network identifies the chain by tracing back to this single origin block.
Think of the genesis block like the first entry in a ledger book: everything that follows refers back to it, and without it, the chain of records does not exist.
Satoshi Nakamoto mined Bitcoin's genesis block on January 3, 2009. It is identified as Block 0 and carries a reward of 50 Bitcoin that was never spendable, a technical quirk of how the genesis block was hardcoded into the software. The block's coinbase parameter contains a famous message: a headline from The Times newspaper reading "Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks." Most researchers interpret this as both a timestamp and a statement about the motivation for creating a decentralized currency independent of the traditional banking system.
The genesis block's hash is fixed. It does not reference a previous block because no previous block exists. Every other block in the Bitcoin blockchain references its predecessor, forming the unbroken chain that gives the technology its name.
Every full node in a blockchain network uses the genesis block to verify it is on the correct chain. When two nodes connect, they exchange their block headers starting from the genesis block. If their genesis hashes do not match, they are on different chains entirely and cannot participate in the same network. This is how Bitcoin nodes distinguish themselves from Bitcoin Cash nodes, for example.
When a developer creates a new blockchain, setting the genesis block parameters is the first act of technical creation. The parameters include the initial coin distribution, the timestamp, the first difficulty target, and any embedded messages or metadata.
Ethereum's genesis block was mined on July 30, 2015. The initial Ether allocation to the genesis block reflected the crowd sale that raised approximately 31,000 Bitcoin between July and August 2014. Ethereum Classic shares the same genesis block as Ethereum because it split after the DAO hack in 2016, and both chains trace back to the same origin. The split happened at a specific block height, not at the genesis.
Sources:
https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
https://ethereum.org/en/history/
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/blocks/btc/0
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