Does the Genesis Block get the block reward of 5 ether?

Question

Getting mixed information.

According to https://etherscan.io/block/0) it does and was mined by 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 on July 30th but according to the Parity (archival mode) it does not.

Furthermore, the first transaction in or out of 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 was on August 7th, so it doesn't appear to actually have gotten the block reward.

edit: sorry, apparently mined rewards are on this view of Etherscan: https://etherscan.io/blocks?m=0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000&p=4

So apparently it did mine it and was rewarded? Can anyone confirm and give details / sources for more information.

Answer 1

Block 0 wasn't mined. It was "manually" written by geth. Mining occur only when the process does pass through consensus stage, since block 0 never goes through consensus, nobody gets mining rewards. The processing of the genesis block is special and you can see it in core/genesis.go, the function is DefaultGenesisBlock()

Current versions of geth reject mining if eth.coinbase isn't set, so probably in the old days this validation was absent and miners were forgetting to set reward address.

I don't know about Etherescan, but in my own database the first value transfer to ZERO address starts from block 5305, you also can verify my data in Etherscan by querying the block number directly. Here is the list of blocks mined with ZERO address from a DB of 4M blocks (only, I don't have it up to date):

postgres=> SELECT v.block_num,b.block_hash,src.address AS source,dst.address AS destination FROM value_transfer as V LEFT JOIN block as b ON v.block_num=b.block_num LEFT JOIN account AS src ON from_id=src.account_id,account AS dst WHERE kind='4' AND to_id=dst.account_id AND dst.address='0000000000000000000000000000000000000000' ORDER BY block_num LIMIT 100;
 block_num |                            block_hash                            | source |               destination                
-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+------------------------------------------
      5305 | 74f85a263477922cbc6ea98492acf72e0ba96869b17720c8e699b31b98c30248 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      5662 | 43e7c0719fa4b309b08b05a97fb8f9598630e0b482ba598ff7e8f05f69b007d4 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      5748 | db39fc9352ea0b231a3f5ff273051ab9ec2081c299a449e08e53e8d970430e50 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6011 | db8df6325c0c29286448c2ba256f12aeeeccadd752dc582230c0894c8564b959 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6133 | 72dfbef6d5fa59c032af1d0888684d86da885f68818735efd83d538cc1bf866a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6320 | f33a55a60b6477204c23b906032225ed13219bb6b48d2de465023b30658ffeba | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6398 | 1b74ed15e001e46e8015152871bc7d39e9a19949d26f9de7b0da15e69b9a480a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6424 | 0da1ea5d6dc94ff6c0f860db76dab9cf963957f1eca0701d0b2227e884bbcf1a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6505 | 1b634738f5826ed0c6f90e1211271dfb98ad0c8d1c6d2295fbd45c60ea4de8bf | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6515 | d7ce74e20574ba119e508fc70f4665db70ee5a381906821671e4e55ab1754038 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6801 | 9c0ad0364ae4843acf004ebd93e3a193c6117093861b935fda6e2fcb3e6320ff | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6818 | 15da1fff09f0ec71994d25ad9fd5c0e8958987703a06528d12f915b42ba7310e | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6822 | f137e80c8bce6acbcc058f38771edaefc958f46991ce2db6dbef7eac8c806feb | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6845 | 78f86cc45b9c11e5a7b46cff4a065f52b1a8ad2152fe6fcd1b3b8bd97e47e3d1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6884 | 7afbe8b06c00bf31d1e716b0f5a3754cba89f2c3cae399ec517cfdc4b9837441 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6935 | e30d40e0e3901ea4cbb46e21f74a6db95a59b5903de8aaa7ffdf49b7770ac9d1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6937 | b71fd6b5d125dd3dd73455ac599f0e0b8ecdfc06e0c5aa2a61f1ebfff13f9b47 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6968 | 122abe517e5c2b2ca1dfab32543a39fa2cf0923fcf7094100cf69761f3506e03 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6973 | 6a1b75e7c6cd9ebce6fe625bdbb1f3dd821f4aa9d061b277b274ec840d40bb18 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6985 | fdde29e00c2c1cac6023ed419f220b186998250bb0b8d15ca9fc7623994b7523 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      6994 | 9e20d5acd272f2cc4c38366cd056f941b961ab545d1f0b558787927a91614ffb | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7022 | ce3b85647998ea565fd5a51b30052c5fc5b22c47083d4d5cef30a4647503eecc | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7129 | 48ec90a143171ecac81f69cbd60b9b8396cd23674034b002ab3420faaa9fceeb | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7158 | 48ef1efed8796f7bdf10c19ef2c225bb55f805a9f247d0fe51618347dbcb781f | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7252 | 08e242b39d390be60a2a7af0150c274dbe44f906a9f8e3f9d07ab2c83bc921aa | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7363 | 0242c70b1f63eb7511b199e4c5d45daf252c6999eb9bc71f914bc9267bb24095 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7485 | 2c11b5273d79e6833443bd309ff947773feca71dafe9f7cb8c9778cdda6cbf75 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      7997 | 89d866b56cd8fe2258413ba9498164d03888ace3e1ab986bbef59d285f46b1d4 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8506 | a46a0723e07816fc12e6c06e21e6d1f956bda68464630c64279f466748de21ec | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8579 | dd56b261e63db15e7d583f9e6387209e203d643b59aa2236a1cf27d57e284fc8 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8618 | e2f71598c839be235704a61930b8c3c54274ce1e3ca07a5c8bd07054a9abcf34 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8636 | 544d62de6404fc47a0589e92763df55edd6e7e9a8ce5f59de09e4542c3c09dd5 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8648 | d4ca5a6457429895cc21415813dfa25aca93d37bc47a78fe5e7adde11e0f53ab | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8671 | 1cd1af0a0d384aecc23a025df1b689123ab472abd20742a92a4fa77089033ed1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8701 | 196ea7fcbacbdbf01e64bf187ca0ab42f2a347560cb3104ef9128a0d28954322 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8737 | e3d0883d3cd9e9dd0ff91869865ff8c0cbf36b6bf8605959c772a83e5b54a415 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8847 | 3d257acdf23ff5c5b799da980498d49cf1b37bad28c2eca9ccba87f296adf2bb | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8877 | fbdabef684c2785233c09695ea7a9fc42eaacaa70c95bdda455309f60af6b141 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8976 | 09c27aa88ce60fbe5db1a5fa285305b84965254e0cb7c065d8694d6f6ab7aaa1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
      8993 | 8ffb9875cb7333517037f526f941a1a9caa6b45b9de2f39736ca3fbf666fe8ac | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
     11326 | ad69c624f5f14869ec2fdcb43f8f6ef355b7468280c87e3246f6c1100f2c4c3f | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
     32279 | d923e48017b9328a5777dc0e5dff64207a0fb1f2dc4533037a2f380a9ea5a7ee | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
     92431 | 96e090c28cf947c4b8244396fd0f246b37ebde157572e6a0d17e388f7a8da8f0 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
     95794 | 42a14742f96d7a65dfd6536fbedee2b951ba7f0dc499af0be015eb2a56ba4114 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
     97008 | 4104a898ba1ec614405588a5c6cdfaf8833f9ecf0c82ada760a391c1f08b9802 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    115884 | 196ff65e4d7251c17d96b43baa10271b065e936075da4b7172961978c5d76486 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    308822 | da6e3f87eec573aa6b5272a9d0378c8b6470063c24969de39f2ff43860b0f72d | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    957325 | f61a2ebe2f36aabcff19f27c3de7e7295322ddd93cc48b2c8f4ad6d6ad77dbca | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    958520 | 2e6bc900697a8bc0082965d137686650b296d0670237adff03953c0f3b99273b | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    959897 | 41042321d4f067e32fdebb6946b3d0136e5eaac3f4cf879ba66633ff63fd0033 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    960905 | fcb7831cebb2b8c2e04a074f57b589dc6ff9bc0ab352e9bef52b98ee7736f475 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    961043 | b7191354b153b9c0cf805a7b7eccd8ce8c28e3e6a6bf026f152e732bc270764d | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    964974 | f743bbdfcd0001fce191dd4b534828b93eb5bf2551da33bd5e04fb2ef906d7f5 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971321 | f143dddfd176594301cc6dcfbefdb9dd94c27d8aca1a47bbed136f8a3620adad | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971327 | 4fa8ff40009e717c123f0661d292e43b07a94e0828dcc73f136d862f19ec36b3 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971361 | b0f40d9e5a139260d7f368911187c68005ec2f773c0f0edb2da3e19a98d76463 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971467 | 0bab957428eaf9b3774a11e796083e4efbcc7f7c0d739e9d677286c533a3c202 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971605 | fd1f03f65f8f16fab36cd1a9ca3a337e3acec8fc1a792bbfb27783ebdfbbe1d7 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971711 | 7f33a8a28c608ac6d5f60fdd89f6fb80e0677401b3b4ab2eba380f3afe996307 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971749 | 67c10db34b0dab0b819d2aef24897ad3e39a326ab71eb6f4ec3aef5ec31a4c02 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    971828 | e98fc7fb83863cf6b4639deca24506ad4027f348997c32aea2fd3abaf9807b5d | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972108 | fd11b7ca0affb4b2d0e6c057b23a59f9bc3794daa935da8beee89ddd14aa2ac1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972218 | 51c3393f0a708384a35eba17d2d60a80bb8eea511295cf8759b011e6a02ba3b9 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972396 | 4aedc73139126f7719701c295d1e377fab83e0599a03ba4c48f2750c2424f76b | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972406 | 261667678b71ac38923e910b9b564ae4b3dc0d84a53d4e8a5a54f0e7d48c70d1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972513 | f1d921890d479a8c2dbc1ab7847dda476da073f2a238ada98fee4185f8e9019b | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972547 | 25e5b67988ec3a68b04c21f3cf34668029b459a260d31fdecac6296e86fcc17a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972791 | b45eb3834165aba01e95e962b82044123c5e302b5cadfd0333f8361981c39f91 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972820 | 409a0bb8e850cf18f9a20ba39efc5183984caca8e2028c2f4062c997d555084a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    972830 | e314464b1df652aaa0d31e6c897d8005054724947d2de663770ab95b58c27edf | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    973090 | e99a391f837b348f3e777487772aa5388ac0fb27df4b91cd5fe723871ce2edde | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    973251 | 41926404e3786e9b8466942d1049e8f62a55b046a54c7dee89c6973a99e5115a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    973259 | b6d56825775c1258388553e385ea2fea01cb137806524017e0022cd7aab94662 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    973487 | 43e2286c3397d3a3e61c357a05e4e9ca31d80146da0f8ba957cb47dfeecc4ff3 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    973507 | 724f105c9ea139b58c2fb3df89a92b055f82a1301ac1bdd7a46618a4f026508c | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    977370 | 78bd618397c9aa3a020e6e03d962d7d9bfce2285498464ff8ce11f101695ce43 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    977372 | 7c9d5a7b0b735174717f2ca08461ede976a4f831189cde283e95b908a71a688a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    977869 | b885da7d8a343d791a2cb660a5780e352fc9e7752ede0051556806a1c7c18607 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    977896 | 37b7358bcbcdd243309b828d83efba86b9e2ea16aa03b919726e91e96d98bfe1 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    978104 | 451dd0d69d909b4ebeb178f154625672d6715b5e29229d161314e8d26e1984bf | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    978282 | 52fcdc8c77b571002a3025719dbfc4e0b04bf705dd5da959efeda6ea5392bf7b | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    978398 | 1a497e7ae002839bcebf3295afd251f67ed908c3ace354e6d77452022cfe5492 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    978537 | 87e01e21cb768a72f0d496b782d6135546d01cd74b76076b1a874687efb9d25f | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    978936 | 6806d574ea63b2670b8f1a1aebebce333bf17839ef693a026e14a1c2600c2496 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    981784 | 13a8116b170e660772eee5a1b9d617c53e7748cb846410c71b57b556fc3f3fd7 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    982548 | 8c6e52153a7aa14913239d2dc8870c44156fe60048f0cc3232a6ccba4741b8c4 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    986786 | c1eb778efb7d8d692586cf81c80d0a84c4f44ab6afca2fb9b95ac84536e9584c | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    991669 | c38f797c5e8ac184c13258efb7606f24d853fbf65c5c946d4a426f59ead68fc3 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1002999 | 05007e4b495b69bf390bf1cb1e57cb2a09112caec42dbc69d2740fd617dc90a2 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1008538 | 531db8716a267828d8fad57e1c68c83913fa832054c13e946b5de8aa634e752a | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1036182 | 7d7c6b92e87cd0ac6eaf25799a103c4ca97ab37657851445ea9aa9c7ff86a163 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1038477 | c002fac1c828fa3b951d9f122227840de33cec4366a750409cd8be10b0f9f414 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1039916 | b6df56588a55beb8d30cb4ce41dfa37682e9eaef48fb0e883aa75e41354fa85d | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1043336 | dbb587afc1870a68307641cb4dd311b3a7a938ed1add0c3d3487fa38bb9519ba | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1045804 | 68b06f6b54654cf3475dbb88dd17017f418199e871ca35eedb18c13a84e8db1e | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   1045864 | 97e082a67ce6a3cf1348e28dea7a6d0a0fe1cbf02874964a9947ff6d4ff7a951 | 0      | 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
(96 rows)

You can't have a transaction out of ZERO address, nobody' knows it's private key, and probably it may not exist at all.

Those where value transfers, transactions to ZERO address start from block 46420 and there is about 500 of them made within first 4M blocks.

postgres=> select block_num,tx_hash from transaction where to_id=1 order by block_num limit 20;
 block_num |                             tx_hash                              
-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------
     46420 | e363505adc6b2996111f8bd774f8653a61d244cc6567b5372c2e781c6c63b737
     46421 | aaf8b3d16ed718848c7bf4c03acb8e8b77c30a128290577055b16ca7edf1e875
     46423 | 5a9e14d0806ab9e1d031755dfcab5e808da0b4c7933bc9c055f70614cc11903d
     46466 | 09abf3b250969ab5a4bc80533f407dfaca950bbfd83395b78ec93562dd55e564
     46496 | 607d6c44a23ee2d2c1958d544cd02cfe56689f043e534824e45fcaeb6337980e
     46554 | 85e4a08b2033222d8900552d2da73fc04d7f9aef2f73de1a13b0c5a63b5ec915
     46639 | 1762d5d354f323648dab357cb85fac637a78ec6a8dbb4fa7da1e0373650313d1
     46857 | fb3118914c770009654a36904897ac12a1d69b8479b7011ae2c389ff23ee4d90
     46941 | 38c4353975f860c577b8d43917a0ce9e26ffb4a10bef87c7e1e43d99278744ff
     47017 | b2d551ba0ca3e3eb731f0a189ed6574d95fa828ca5f32c8f3a94b78970823826
     47031 | 4f6a135f40b5a4e308c2092f58d26cd62c7fa49e2e54bbd10a3d43d2cf946996
     47441 | 824b5c44d55e7a50f6f57600059dae63418586a011eec52301e96fa8fcd6c16b
     47490 | ef9e0ba92e63900598af4319e18bf5b8893ae11529c7b3c201900019e1a3c759
     47845 | e5e6feb4ad54fd8310c7838ce3839f18ee609cbe821d2094e5f6e62f5353321d
     47914 | f3b5e1f76a0ca82f9d1baac18dd14f70ec23813a52c933de32f8652742dcd053
     47923 | 973dc71f3cab85b741567a38bcd4cfce0b6d64873dca7942eb460b2d98b80c01
     48356 | c5e43e653a248953cb7cfb38eb978e34c611a0f09bc2753c55ae184082a8f087
     48467 | 8b2700daa2877eaf9537946f39f62ad87844decc09c4717b64c94724402cfad2
     48492 | 157068cac715dfca9120bb704e77c00bfa8c4b2f28eb5399687feebdafdd151d
     48675 | 0b350c1131b0b24ca4f869fc114570550ea87d45b48dbfc4ae1ce3149d9e7fa5
(20 rows)

postgres=> 

Answer 2

Apparently, 0x0 didn't get the block reward, because it's balance at block 1 was 0. You can verify this:

curl -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_getBalance","params":["0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "0x1"],"id":1}' https://mainnet.infura.io/yourInfuraKey

And it didn't change at Block 2 or 3 either.