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So I read on bitcointalk the other day that there was a new coin about to be released (woo hoo right?!) and then they posted that somebody had stolen the genesis block.

What exactly does that mean?

How does somebody steal a block and what does that mean to the other blocks/block chain or miners?

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  • I think what they meant is that someone mined the genesis block for a new cryptocurrency, not stole it.
    – Luca Matteis
    Feb 11, 2014 at 19:53
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    If you're referring to an online discussion, please include a link to the original, rather than paraphrasing. There isn't enough information in your question to determine what happened.
    – Greg Hewgill
    Feb 11, 2014 at 20:24

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I assume this is referring to the duckduckcoin launch fiasco.

For pre-mined coins based on the Bitcoin software, the pre-mined coins typically just go to whoever mines the first few blocks. The idea is that you don't open the software up until those blocks are mined. But if you do, and someone else mines those blocks, they get the pre-mine. To protect against this, you must release the software with a checkpoint after the pre-mine. Apparently, somebody forgot to add that checkpoint.

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  • But isn't pre-mining generally regarded as bad? Maybe that's why they didn't pre-mine?
    – Pacerier
    May 25, 2014 at 5:46

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