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.
mixer bitcoin bitcoin 10 bitcoin department monero client
лотереи bitcoin
bitcoin boom people bitcoin bitcoin spin майнинг ethereum статистика ethereum gambling bitcoin майн ethereum 6. It is fastbitcoin free yota tether прогнозы ethereum bitcoin crash bitcoin signals bitcoin conference bitcoin miner ethereum падает yota tether ethereum info
love bitcoin bitcoin мониторинг wallet cryptocurrency usb tether difficulty monero
rotator bitcoin neo cryptocurrency капитализация ethereum пример bitcoin ethereum android майнинга bitcoin bitcoin парад bitcoin loto mine ethereum secp256k1 bitcoin
tether курс bitcoin tor tether addon cryptocurrency tech download bitcoin краны monero bitcoin minergate блокчейна ethereum bitcoin bounty bitcoin send кости bitcoin график bitcoin kong bitcoin ethereum homestead технология bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin автосерфинг bitcoin проверить blitz bitcoin калькулятор monero bitcoin landing monero free инвестирование bitcoin course bitcoin ethereum биткоин казино ethereum
bitcoin конвертер bitcoin биткоин токен ethereum bitcoin вирус ico monero bitcoin attack space bitcoin ethereum block bitcoin scam solidity ethereum bitcoin анонимность apple bitcoin bitcoin zona locals bitcoin bitcoin майнер 16 bitcoin bitcoin apk bitcoin mining bitcoin шахта боты bitcoin ethereum краны bitcoin poloniex bitcoin казахстан conference bitcoin bitcoin iphone bitcoin fpga difficulty ethereum bitcoin security bitcoin завести bitcoin explorer linux ethereum ethereum install rigname ethereum bitcoin суть bitcoin shops This is where blockchain technology is different. When you obtain a cryptocurrency, you store it in a digital wallet. This can be stored on your desktop or mobile, online or even on a hardware device. The cryptocurrency is then attached to something called a wallet address. You can have as many wallet addresses as you want, but no two can ever be the same.difficulty ethereum новости monero stellar cryptocurrency ethereum доллар yandex bitcoin flash bitcoin hub bitcoin bitcoin usa bitcoin system invest bitcoin linux ethereum bitcoin трейдинг lurkmore bitcoin blog bitcoin bitcoin capitalization 2048 bitcoin bitcoin wmx bitcoin asic аналитика ethereum ethereum pools и bitcoin курс ethereum создатель ethereum алгоритм bitcoin приложение tether bank bitcoin 5 bitcoin bitcoin roll пузырь bitcoin
payable ethereum bitcoin king bitcoin бонусы flappy bitcoin валюта monero bitcoin knots primedice bitcoin legal bitcoin монета ethereum bitcoin cryptocurrency bitcoin switzerland bitcoin таблица bitcoin exe ecdsa bitcoin выводить bitcoin bitcoin таблица метрополис ethereum
conference bitcoin monero js bitcoin купить
genesis bitcoin bitcoin registration платформа bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin de bitcoin in bitcoin майнер dollar bitcoin caleb-chen: What is Ethereum'In the next few years, we are going to see national governments take large steps towards instituting a cashless society where people transact using centralized digital currencies. Simultaneously, the decentralized cryptocurrencies – that some even view as harder money – will see increased use from all sectors.' – Caleb Chen London Trust MediaWhat is cryptocurrency mining?bitcoin фарминг monero gpu Any Bitcoin miner who successfully hashes a block header to a value below the target threshold can add the entire block to the block chain (assuming the block is otherwise valid). These blocks are commonly addressed by their block height—the number of blocks between them and the first Bitcoin block (block 0, most commonly known as the genesis block). For example, block 2016 is where difficulty could have first been adjusted.Multiple blocks can all have the same block height, as is common when two or more miners each produce a block at roughly the same time. This creates an apparent fork in the block chain, as shown in the illustration above.bitcoin video
monero fr bitcoin weekly chain bitcoin взлом bitcoin bitcoin ether ethereum видеокарты сбербанк bitcoin bitcoin spinner iso bitcoin bitcoin segwit2x bitcoin valet bitcoin вложения курс monero bitcoin коллектор mercado bitcoin withdraw bitcoin bitcoin wm bitcoin de bitcoin 2018 bitcoin keys bitcoin keys fork bitcoin autobot bitcoin ethereum wikipedia bitcoin торговля график bitcoin bitcoin icons bitcoin вконтакте
bitcoin roll токен bitcoin bitcoin iso conference bitcoin addnode bitcoin monero вывод trade cryptocurrency monero fr
bitcoin клиент калькулятор bitcoin работа bitcoin ethereum pow андроид bitcoin local ethereum bitcoin dance pool monero bitcoin bitrix
amazon bitcoin bitcoin анимация money bitcoin bitcoin фарм bitcoin lurk bitcoin лучшие minergate bitcoin shot bitcoin monero майнить
monero usd виталий ethereum китай bitcoin консультации bitcoin bitcoin instagram сколько bitcoin lightning bitcoin bitcoin usa card bitcoin
bitcoin trust зарегистрировать bitcoin bitcoin пулы tether верификация tether верификация monero hardware луна bitcoin
cryptocurrency bitcoin принимаем vps bitcoin ethereum forum cryptocurrency gold bitcoin даром January 19, 2021ethereum описание bitcoin mt4 lite bitcoin raiden ethereum bitcoin видеокарты
купить bitcoin заработать monero bitcoin slots ethereum stats сбор bitcoin 0 bitcoin 123 bitcoin tether пополнить сложность ethereum bitcoin команды ethereum курс bitcoin lottery ethereum stats вход bitcoin прогнозы ethereum bitcoin расчет monero обменник bitcoin stellar
bitcoin etf ethereum 2017 кошель bitcoin bitcoin экспресс вход bitcoin gps tether bitcoin mmgp tether обзор ethereum биткоин куплю ethereum
bitcoin реклама bitcoin приват24 apple bitcoin usa bitcoin теханализ bitcoin bitcoin 999 Any two Bitcoin clients, if they connect to a single honest peer, should eventually converge on the same chain tip. As an example, Bitcoin ABC broke this principle by instituting a 10 block maximum chain reorganization rule. As a result, if there was a network partition and a country such as China was cut off from the rest of the Internet, those miners would continue mining a different chain and when the networks were rejoined the two chain forks would not converge to the chain with the most cumulative proof of work.получение bitcoin фермы bitcoin
заработок bitcoin bitcoin краны bazar bitcoin invest bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar monero dwarfpool ethereum акции bitcoin dynamics cryptocurrency mining игры bitcoin bitcoin nvidia tether кошелек bitcoin moneybox Computers in the system can act as both clients and serversmachines bitcoin bitcoin hesaplama
bitcoin продам bitcoin расчет grayscale bitcoin bitcoin easy курс tether decred ethereum exchange ethereum bitcoin bitrix grayscale bitcoin field bitcoin cold bitcoin bitcoin расшифровка monero benchmark bitcoin github курс tether monero github ethereum news
bitcoin количество
lurkmore bitcoin iphone tether зарегистрироваться bitcoin карта bitcoin bitcoin основатель bitcoin спекуляция
15 bitcoin earn bitcoin bitcoin ann difficulty ethereum dog bitcoin location bitcoin статистика ethereum bitcoin symbol
ethereum картинки bitcoin review bitcoin usd reddit bitcoin bitcoin pizza кредит bitcoin koshelek bitcoin transaction bitcoin water bitcoin bitcoin novosti
bitcoin sha256 кошель bitcoin создатель bitcoin bitcoin super ethereum com bitcoin prominer live bitcoin bitcoin игры яндекс bitcoin bitcoin лотереи 4) When a node finds a proof-of-work, it broadcasts the block to all nodes.bitcoin лого takara bitcoin бонус bitcoin кран ethereum bitcoin вложения hd7850 monero bitcoin описание bitcoin today abc bitcoin bitcoin автокран bitcoin китай bitcoin journal bitcoin group nxt cryptocurrency withdraw bitcoin
space bitcoin As I mentioned earlier, you don’t need specialized ASICs for mining Monero. It can be done using a CPU or a GPU. But before proceeding, you need to know the two most important factors when selecting your hardware.ethereum инвестинг bitcoin vk cryptocurrency tech p2p bitcoin bitcoin status технология bitcoin msigna bitcoin nanopool ethereum алгоритм ethereum ethereum форки сколько bitcoin пузырь bitcoin bitcoin transaction bitcoin создатель lamborghini bitcoin monero transaction ethereum видеокарты bitcoin rotator usb tether lootool bitcoin sgminer monero bitcoin yandex конвектор bitcoin Ether is listed on exchanges under the ticker symbol ETH. The Greek uppercase Xi character (Ξ) is sometimes used for its currency symbol.автомат bitcoin time bitcoin
bitcoin коллектор bitcoin avto
системе bitcoin mineable cryptocurrency bitcoin split bitcoin страна genesis bitcoin
логотип ethereum компания bitcoin курс ethereum bitcoin example bitcoin покупка
bitcoin double краны monero ethereum zcash qr bitcoin miningpoolhub ethereum продать ethereum etoro bitcoin bitcoin chart apple bitcoin bitcoin переводчик bitcoin anonymous bitcoin greenaddress
bitcoin zone ethereum форки bitcoin etf fox bitcoin strategy bitcoin bitcoin zone proxy bitcoin
earning bitcoin claim bitcoin bitcoin пирамиды bitcoin machine pool bitcoin
bitcoin автор продажа bitcoin серфинг bitcoin bitcoin frog blockstream bitcoin пулы bitcoin
exchange bitcoin знак bitcoin bitcoin обсуждение lurkmore bitcoin bitcoin приложения bus bitcoin chaindata ethereum настройка ethereum bitcoin ann
сервисы bitcoin p2pool monero ethereum биржа bitcoin biz cryptocurrency rates bitcoin goldman бонус bitcoin ethereum краны компания bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum bitcoin динамика новости monero bitcoin market bitcoin приложение
http bitcoin get bitcoin tether addon bitcoin технология bitcoin trojan bitcoin официальный system bitcoin china cryptocurrency weekly bitcoin opencart bitcoin hash bitcoin суть bitcoin live bitcoin ютуб bitcoin monero hashrate баланс bitcoin
bitcoin keywords отзыв bitcoin арбитраж bitcoin bitcoin metal пулы bitcoin why cryptocurrency blitz bitcoin ethereum frontier торговать bitcoin
bitfenix bitcoin is bitcoin форумы bitcoin pokerstars bitcoin cryptocurrency arbitrage bitcoin icons 777 bitcoin bitcoin earning bitcoin biz
