<p>In order to explain this, you'll need to understand that on a technical level, a bitcoin does not exist as a 'balance at some address', instead the system uses 'unspent transaction outputs' (UTXOs). <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/29780/why-does-bitcoin-store-all-transaction-inputs-and-outputs-instead-of-just-an-a/29782#29782">See this question for more info</a>.</p>

<p>The reason it is especially relevant to understand this, is that due to an apparent bug in the bitcoin codebase, <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10009/why-can-t-the-genesis-block-coinbase-be-spent">there is no UTXO for the genesis block reward</a>, which means the genesis block reward is un-spendable. </p>

<p>So with that in mind, we can look at each of the examples you listed.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>66.92700504 BTC</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://bitref.com/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bitref.com/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a> ><a href="https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>These block explorers are listing the balance of the address that the genesis block coinbase transaction pays out to, and including the 50 BTC block reward in their report. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>16.91700504 BTC</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://insight.bitpay.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://insight.bitpay.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a> ><a href="https://blockstream.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://blockstream.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>These block explorers are apparently only listing UTXOs that exist and are spendable. The block reward is not spendable, so it has not been included in the sum. </p>

<p><code>66.92700504 BTC - 50 BTC = 16.91700504 BTC</code></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>and many others who don't sum two transactions:</p>
  
  <p>for 50 BTC ><a href="https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true</a></p>
  
  <p>and 0.1 BTC ><a href="https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/3387418aaddb4927209c5032f515aa442a6587d6e54677f08a03b8fa7789e688" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/3387418aaddb4927209c5032f515aa442a6587d6e54677f08a03b8fa7789e688</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p>These two URLs link to specific transactions, not to the address itself. The first is the coinbase transaction (though as mentioned above, there is no valid UTXO for this), and the second is a transaction creating a 0.1 BTC UTXO that is spendable by the owner of the <code>1A1zP1eP...</code> private key. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-03-15T23:21:00.010Z
2019-03-15T23:21:00.010Z
chytrik
<p>When I check balance for the address <code>1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</code> - different sources show different results.</p>

<p>66.92700504 BTC</p>

<p><a href="https://bitref.com/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bitref.com/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a>
<a href="https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a></p>

<p>16.91700504 BTC</p>

<p><a href="https://insight.bitpay.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://insight.bitpay.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a>
<a href="https://blockstream.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://blockstream.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa</a></p>

<p>and many others who don't sum two transactions: </p>

<p>for 50 BTC <a href="https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true</a></p>

<p>and 0.1 BTC <a href="https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/3387418aaddb4927209c5032f515aa442a6587d6e54677f08a03b8fa7789e688" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/3387418aaddb4927209c5032f515aa442a6587d6e54677f08a03b8fa7789e688</a></p>

<p>why?</p>

<genesis-block>
Why explorers show difference balance for genesis block?
lebed2045
# Why explorers show difference balance for genesis block?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-15)

When I check balance for the address `1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa` - different sources show different results.

66.92700504 BTC

<https://bitref.com/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa>
<https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa>

16.91700504 BTC

<https://insight.bitpay.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa>
<https://blockstream.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa>

and many others who don't sum two transactions:

for 50 BTC <https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true>

and 0.1 BTC <https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/3387418aaddb4927209c5032f515aa442a6587d6e54677f08a03b8fa7789e688>

why?

**Tags:** genesis-block


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-03-15. Score: 2

In order to explain this, you'll need to understand that on a technical level, a bitcoin does not exist as a 'balance at some address', instead the system uses 'unspent transaction outputs' (UTXOs). [See this question for more info](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/29780/why-does-bitcoin-store-all-transaction-inputs-and-outputs-instead-of-just-an-a/29782#29782).

The reason it is especially relevant to understand this, is that due to an apparent bug in the bitcoin codebase, [there is no UTXO for the genesis block reward](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10009/why-can-t-the-genesis-block-coinbase-be-spent), which means the genesis block reward is un-spendable.

So with that in mind, we can look at each of the examples you listed.

> 66.92700504 BTC
>
> <https://bitref.com/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa> ><https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa>

These block explorers are listing the balance of the address that the genesis block coinbase transaction pays out to, and including the 50 BTC block reward in their report.

> 16.91700504 BTC
>
> <https://insight.bitpay.com/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa> ><https://blockstream.info/address/1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa>

These block explorers are apparently only listing UTXOs that exist and are spendable. The block reward is not spendable, so it has not been included in the sum.

`66.92700504 BTC - 50 BTC = 16.91700504 BTC`

> and many others who don't sum two transactions:
>
> for 50 BTC ><https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4a5e1e4baab89f3a32518a88c31bc87f618f76673e2cc77ab2127b7afdeda33b?show_adv=true>
>
> and 0.1 BTC ><https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/3387418aaddb4927209c5032f515aa442a6587d6e54677f08a03b8fa7789e688>

These two URLs link to specific transactions, not to the address itself. The first is the coinbase transaction (though as mentioned above, there is no valid UTXO for this), and the second is a transaction creating a 0.1 BTC UTXO that is spendable by the owner of the `1A1zP1eP...` private key.


---

