Glossary

Block Height

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A blockchain is a collection of blocks linked together in an immutable, chronological order. Beginning at zero with the Genesis block, all blocks are numbered in ascending order. This number is known as a block’s height.

The current block height is simply the number of blocks in the blockchain minus one. Block height can be used as a reference to a point in time within a blockchain. For example, Bitcoin halvings occur at specific block heights (every 210,000 blocks). Additionally, special Bitcoin transactions can be timelocked until a certain block height.

Related Terms
Block
A block is a collection of transactions that occur on the Bitcoin network. Blocks are linked together chronologically to form a blockchain.
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Blockchain
A blockchain is a chronological list of records, called blocks. Each of these blocks contains transactions. Once a block is added to the blockchain, it is infeasible to alter, giving Bitcoin its immutability.
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Halving
Every 210,000 blocks, the block subsidy is cut in half in an event known as the halving. This process will continue until the block subsidy is zero, at which point miners will only collect transaction fees and Bitcoin's inflation will hit absolute zero.
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Genesis Block
The Genesis block is the first block in the Bitcoin blockchain. It was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009 and includes the headline 'Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks'.
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Timelock
A Bitcoin transaction can be created such that the recipient of the outputs cannot spend them before a specified time. This time can be specified in UTC time or block height.
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