What is Coinbase transaction?
The first transaction in every block, which creates the block subsidy and pays it, plus the block's fees, to the miner.
It has no inputs, because it creates coins rather than moving them. Its output cannot be spent until 100 further blocks have been mined, which protects against reorganisation.
The coinbase field also carries arbitrary data — which is where the genesis block's Times headline lives, and where pools identify themselves today.
It has nothing to do with the exchange of a similar name. The term predates it.
Related terms
Block subsidy
The newly issued bitcoin paid to the miner of each block. It began at 50 BTC and halves every 210,000 blocks.
BasicsGenesis block
The first block in the Bitcoin chain, mined in January 2009, whose 50 BTC reward is unspendable by a quirk of…
MiningMining
The process of assembling candidate blocks and searching for a valid proof of work, rewarded with the block…
This definition is part of the Bitcoin Logical glossary. For the fuller explanation, start with Learn, or see the live numbers on The Bitcoin Signal.