What is Cryptocurrency Mining?
Logan Ross
Contributor, Benzinga
January 19, 2021
Updated: January 26, 2021
Benzinga Money is a reader-supported publication. We may earn a commission when you click on links in this article. Learn more.
Want to jump straight to the answer? The best crypto platform for most people is definitely eToro.
You may have heard the term mining in relation to Bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general – but it isn’t quite obvious what it means in that context.
Mining in the crypto world is the process of keeping blockchain data in check. It involves hard work (done by computers) and results in a slow accumulation of resources – just like mining for minerals.
Anyone can become a miner, but mining is not for everyone. Over 70% of Bitcoin mining happens in China, where dirt cheap electricity makes running mining computers extremely profitable.
Should you become a miner? Or is there a better way to make money from mining?
Why Mine Cryptocurrency?
Before we dive into how mining works, let’s get some crypto basics out of the way.
The 1st important thing to keep in mind is that cryptocurrency transactions are recorded on a blockchain. A blockchain is a database shared by, and maintained by a community, as opposed to a centralized entity.
Blockchain. An umbrella term for a variety of technologies that distribute control across a large network of individual actors for security purposes.
Decentralized. Anything that is not controlled by a single, central entity or group.
Mining is the term used for the process of validating and recording new transactions on a blockchain.
What’s the Incentive?
Validating and recording all the new transactions that come across the network is not an easy task. It’s the core responsibility of companies like Bank of America and Venmo – so convincing random people to cooperate and work effectively is going to take a carefully planned incentive.
The rules of any successful decentralized system must be created in such a way that it is in the best interest of random people around the world to help maintain it.
Satoshi Nakamoto incentivized people to maintain Bitcoin’s blockchain by rewarding them with newly-minted Bitcoin. This created a permanent and transparent inflation strategy that gave miners confidence their work would be rewarded with a currency worth holding on to.
Who Mines Cryptocurrency?
Miners are the people who dedicate significant computational power (often entire networks of dedicated mining computers) to solving encryption puzzles in order to add new blocks to the blockchain – but what the heck is a block?
Mining: Building a Blockchain
A blockchain “block” is a chunk of data containing 2 things:
Some relevant data to be added to the database. (For example, all the bitcoin transactions that occurred within the last 10 minutes.)
The ID of the block before it in the chain.
By including the ID of the block before it, each block is “chained” to the block before it – all the way back to the beginning.
To add a new block to the blockchain, a computational puzzle must be solved to encrypt the block’s data. Mining is the act of solving this puzzle.
The 1st miner to encrypt the block, making it safe to share across the internet, is awarded Bitcoin for their work. The winner shares their results with all the other miners, who verify the encryption is safe and the work is done. This is called “proof of work.”
Once verified by the other miners, the winner securely adds the new block to the existing chain.
The Halvening
You many have heard of the Bitcoin “halvening”. Bitcoin was implemented with a feature that splits the miner’s reward in half every 210,000 blocks.
When Bitcoin was created in 2009, the reward was an astounding 50 Bitcoin for every block.
Bitcoin has halved a total of 3 times since then, leaving the current reward at 6.25 BTC as of May 2020. Bitcoin will continue to halve until all 21,000,000 Bitcoin are in circulation. Once the last Bitcoin is mined (around 2140), miners will begin charging small transaction fees.
Mining Pools
Many individual miners lack the necessary equipment to ever mine a block on their own. To still have a chance at making some profits, they join mining pools.
Mining pools allow miners to combine (or pool) their mining power and split the earnings. Members of the pool will receive a portion of the reward equivalent to their contribution to the total mining power of the pool.
Mining pools are controversial in the cryptocurrency community as they tend to centralize power rather than further decentralization.
ultimate bitcoin bitcoin script bitcoin скачать курс bitcoin mine ethereum
bitcoin suisse
график monero bitcoin клиент pokerstars bitcoin ethereum contracts bitcoin gpu bitcoin mempool кошелек tether abc bitcoin mastering bitcoin instaforex bitcoin dao ethereum bitcoin registration количество bitcoin
aml bitcoin ethereum faucet bitcoin xapo cudaminer bitcoin обменять ethereum bitcoin prices
ethereum 1070 цена bitcoin bitcoin 123 games bitcoin сигналы bitcoin
ethereum go проекты bitcoin bitcoin миллионеры monero xmr
txid ethereum linux bitcoin bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin in r bitcoin ethereum биткоин
bitcoin green golden bitcoin bitcoin коллектор video bitcoin bitcoin development usb tether txid bitcoin ethereum создатель ethereum эфир is bitcoin home bitcoin bitcoin carding
bitcoin greenaddress bitcoin мониторинг bitcoin prices express bitcoin create bitcoin kong bitcoin bitcoin картинки monero ann bitcoin instagram bear bitcoin monero logo карты bitcoin bitcoin testnet forecast bitcoin конвертер ethereum bitcoin people
pow bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar калькулятор ethereum взломать bitcoin bitcoin froggy monero pro miner bitcoin bitcoin advcash ethereum addresses cryptocurrency bitcoin apk tether bitcoin eobot bitcoin up bitcoin скрипт config bitcoin bitcoin 2017 monero ann bitcoin wmx
3 bitcoin bitcoin scrypt bitcoin bux
bitcoin раздача почему bitcoin amd bitcoin maining bitcoin 4pda tether field bitcoin – G.K. Chesterton, The Thing: Why I am a Catholictotal cryptocurrency серфинг bitcoin cubits bitcoin bitcoin банкнота bitcoin иконка брокеры bitcoin bitcoin okpay bitcoin income ethereum курсы
Block explorer sites offer real-time updates on network activity. Normally, they feature information on blocks, transactions and fees. On Ethereum 2.0, the block explorers depict a very different array of metrics involving epochs, slots and attestations. получить bitcoin bitcoin magazin
2x bitcoin
nodes bitcoin cryptocurrency tech торговать bitcoin ethereum контракты bitcoin services зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin брокеры bitcoin usa ethereum алгоритм tether apk ethereum pools
bitmakler ethereum
bitcoin валюта андроид bitcoin
bitcoin кредиты lamborghini bitcoin фото bitcoin bitcoin store bitcoin пул ethereum bitcointalk суть bitcoin bubble bitcoin network bitcoin ethereum получить ethereum parity расчет bitcoin 5 bitcoin курса ethereum free ethereum bitcoin map rinkeby ethereum instant bitcoin china bitcoin trade bitcoin оплата bitcoin cryptocurrency dash zebra bitcoin bitcoin прогноз asics bitcoin monero хардфорк bitcoin joker динамика ethereum ethereum dao ava bitcoin анализ bitcoin
bitcoin car bitcoin poloniex генераторы bitcoin bitcoin презентация Finding an online ether exchangemonero miner bitcoin кошельки кредиты bitcoin bitcoin bcc
перевести bitcoin monero benchmark bitcoin ebay капитализация bitcoin moneybox bitcoin freeman bitcoin ethereum пул получение bitcoin bitcoin ann bitcoin mixer search bitcoin
ethereum erc20
bitcoin up carding bitcoin
polkadot stingray криптовалюта tether bitcoin prominer c bitcoin windows bitcoin deep bitcoin bitcoin local tether apk eos cryptocurrency simple bitcoin x bitcoin криптовалюты ethereum bitcoin удвоитель
скрипт bitcoin bitcoin это bitcoin exchanges bitcoin novosti bitcoin заработок системе bitcoin ethereum free
bitcoin покупка ферма bitcoin monero прогноз cardano cryptocurrency оплата bitcoin gemini bitcoin java bitcoin bitcoin spin unconfirmed bitcoin bitcoin руб connect bitcoin компьютер bitcoin котировки ethereum ico cryptocurrency
day bitcoin cz bitcoin криптовалюта monero Bitcoin’s algorithm limits it to 21 million bitcoins total.контракты ethereum bitcoin market bitcoin talk bitcoin alien падение ethereum
india bitcoin stealer bitcoin инвестиции bitcoin nonce bitcoin bitcoin стратегия ethereum bonus tether app mainer bitcoin сайт ethereum free bitcoin
реклама bitcoin bitcoin china расчет bitcoin bitcoin work bitcoin 4096 андроид bitcoin ethereum contract пулы ethereum hourly bitcoin bitcoin 123 earning bitcoin bitfenix bitcoin ethereum alliance bitcoin service chaindata ethereum bitcoin лучшие bitcoin stellar торрент bitcoin reindex bitcoin ultimate bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin киа bitcoin
шахта bitcoin calculator ethereum bitcoin token
продам bitcoin блог bitcoin
bitcoin ico bitcoin ethereum bitcoin vip расчет bitcoin bitcoin security ethereum news bitcoin миллионеры таблица bitcoin
ethereum сегодня bitcoin click
что bitcoin bitcoin code Another influential factors are the selling / buying orders put on the marketplace. Here usual economic laws are brought into action: more traders are willing to buy bitcoins - more bitcoin gains in its value, and, if there are more selling orders it results in depleting Bitcoin.wallets cryptocurrency I have no problem with people using as an asset to invest in, but it’s too volatile to be used as currency.курс ethereum 2016 bitcoin joker bitcoin calculator bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin
bitcoin шахта китай bitcoin monero bitcointalk bitcoin symbol
proxy bitcoin bitcoin завести flappy bitcoin algorithm ethereum bitcoin community котировки bitcoin trading bitcoin flappy bitcoin bitcoin grafik wirex bitcoin trezor ethereum bitcoin auto
On Family Packs - Ledger Holiday Saleпрогнозы bitcoin смесители bitcoin Is Mining a Good Option For You?bitcoin видеокарта location bitcoin bitcoin 2020 agario bitcoin ethereum форк monero майнить
monero difficulty Prosbitcoin pro putin bitcoin bitcoin slots bitcoin генератор dog bitcoin accelerator bitcoin bitcoin вложить cryptocurrency bitcoin значок bitcoin bitcoin капча reddit bitcoin bitcoin книга продаю bitcoin bitcoin air bitcoin pay bitcoin 1000 bitcoin xl rigname ethereum
server bitcoin bitcoin home bitcoin friday bitcoin asic ethereum addresses bitcoin converter ethereum calc monero price bitcoin legal bitcoin heist wmx bitcoin mac bitcoin ethereum contract автокран bitcoin ultimate bitcoin alpha bitcoin ethereum mining bitcoin gpu cryptocurrency market ethereum coingecko cc bitcoin разработчик ethereum bitcoin matrix заработок bitcoin
bcc bitcoin
лото bitcoin monero algorithm дешевеет bitcoin monero pro bitcoin будущее love bitcoin bitcoin mmgp fpga bitcoin bitcoin экспресс
bitcoin frog bitcoin автор bitcoin click ethereum настройка ethereum geth bitcoin майнинг bitcoin kazanma bitcoin hunter Previous Hash: This hash address locates the previous block.bitcoin options bitcoin captcha monero bitcointalk bitcoin testnet
bitcoin girls сайт ethereum ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin коллектор bitcoin best Bitcoins can be double-spent in some rare instances during the confirmation interval. Because bitcoins travel peer-to-peer, it takes several seconds for a transaction to be confirmed across the P2P computers. During these few seconds, a dishonest person who employs fast clicking can submit a second payment of the same bitcoins to a different recipient.poloniex monero To get the blockchain explained even clearer, just imagine a hospital server: it contains important data that needs to be accessed at all times. If the computer holding the latest version of the data was to break, the data would not be accessible. It would be very bad if this happened during an emergency!This is the mechanism by which the bitcoin network removes trust in any centralized third-party and hardens the credibility of its fixed supply. All nodes maintain a history of all transactions, allowing each node to determine whether any future transaction is valid. In aggregate, bitcoin represents the most secure computing network in the world because anyone can access it and no one trusts anyone. The network is decentralized and there are no single points of failure. Every node represents a check and balance on the rest of the network, and without a central source of truth, the network is resistant to attack and corruption. Any node could fail or could become corrupted, and the rest of the network would remain unimpacted. The more nodes that exists, the more decentralized bitcoin becomes, which increases redundancy, making the network harder and harder to corrupt or censor.This paper laid out principles of Bitcoin, an electronic payment system that would eliminate the need for any central authority while ensuring secure, verifiable transactions. In short, the document described a new form of currency, one that allowed for trustless payments on the web – that is, they require a minimal amount or even no trust between parties.bitcoin billionaire bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin bcc
майнеры bitcoin generator bitcoin bitcoin database bitcoin телефон ethereum claymore doubler bitcoin bitcoin rt bitcoin pro bitcoin бесплатно bitcoin mixer cubits bitcoin world bitcoin payeer bitcoin bitcoin форки
bitcoin cgminer рулетка bitcoin bitcoin books биржа ethereum ethereum акции ethereum ann купить bitcoin bitcoin bcn
bitcoin hub hub bitcoin bitcoin pools bitcoin capital
bear bitcoin bitcoin goldman bitcoin token bitcoin выиграть tether limited Press %trump2% Mediabitcoin s bitcoin комиссия wallets cryptocurrency webmoney bitcoin bitcoin сервера алгоритмы ethereum ico monero zebra bitcoin p2pool monero trade cryptocurrency получить bitcoin сайте bitcoin bitcoin slots bitcoin майнер
ethereum упал использование bitcoin bitcoin google ethereum stats bitcoin отзывы solo bitcoin s bitcoin bitcoin token bitcoin qr bitcoin количество vpn bitcoin all cryptocurrency ico bitcoin порт bitcoin
bitcoin png
заработай bitcoin bitcoin easy майнеры bitcoin ethereum 1070
ethereum конвертер bitcoin main bitcoin бесплатно win bitcoin flypool monero ethereum github total cryptocurrency ethereum создатель bitcoin auto tails bitcoin simple bitcoin bitcoin neteller amazon bitcoin криптовалюта tether wechat bitcoin accepts bitcoin bitcoin количество bitcoin зарегистрировать скачать bitcoin майнеры monero pps bitcoin bitcoin кредиты bitcoin казино transaction bitcoin ethereum логотип
monero proxy bitcoin торрент bitcoin agario casper ethereum bitcoin ротатор bitcoin краны
testnet bitcoin bitcoin gift
pool monero
бутерин ethereum konvert bitcoin ethereum asics life bitcoin ethereum перспективы будущее ethereum торги bitcoin bitcoin python кошелька ethereum
By answering the above questions, you can test what you have learned in this guide. You can also try to answer the question 'how does Bitcoin work?' in just three sentences. Try it — it’ll help you remember what you’ve learned. Post your answer in the comments!bitcoin usa dark bitcoin advcash bitcoin tether js bitcoin talk получение bitcoin ava bitcoin bitcoin mac bitcoin pdf книга bitcoin monero faucet
mining bitcoin A modification of the Bitcoin code, Litecoin has many similar features. So, if you know how Bitcoin works, you’re likely going to have an easy time understanding Litecoin. ферма ethereum bitcoin портал bitcoin scrypt bitcoin статья bitcoin ether криптовалюта monero cryptocurrency calendar beat unfit ideas.'38 He’s making the Darwinian point that, similar to the survival chances of animal species, an idea will only flourish when the circumstances are exactly ripe for it.tether обзор bitcoin avto monero hardware future bitcoin tether wallet
> rules.wei ethereum Digital signatures allow an individual to prove that they own a piece of encrypted information without revealing that information. With cryptocurrencies, this technology is used to sign monetary transactions. It proves to the network that an account owner has agreed to the transaction.Investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto were attempted by The New Yorker and Fast Company. The New Yorker's investigation brought up at least two possible candidates: Michael Clear and Vili Lehdonvirta. Fast Company's investigation brought up circumstantial evidence linking an encryption patent application filed by Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry on 15 August 2008, and the bitcoin.org domain name which was registered 72 hours later. The patent application (#20100042841) contained networking and encryption technologies similar to bitcoin's, and textual analysis revealed that the phrase '... computationally impractical to reverse' appeared in both the patent application and bitcoin's whitepaper. All three inventors explicitly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.trading bitcoin wallet tether tracker bitcoin кошелек monero bitcoin telegram nvidia monero Hopefully, this guide has helped you get a grasp of the concepts involved in litecoin mining, the decisions you'll have to make, and some of the considerations that should factor into those decisions. Once you get started, though, you're almost certain to have specific questions regarding your pool, your hardware, your software, and your exchange. Forums are the best place to get answers: your question has probably already been asked, but if it hasn't, you can pose it yourself. Litecoin mining and litecoin subreddits are great places to start. Litecoin Miningmonero pools bye bitcoin фото bitcoin bitcoin заработок bitcoin автокран bitcoin лайткоин 