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.
bitcoin wmx bitcoin рублей бесплатно bitcoin bank cryptocurrency ethereum addresses
заработать monero
explorer ethereum bitcoin развод боты bitcoin cudaminer bitcoin goldsday bitcoin bitcoin сбербанк япония bitcoin armory bitcoin
bitcoin golang the ethereum bitcoin 4 bitcoin double сайты bitcoin новый bitcoin space bitcoin wallets cryptocurrency bitcoin сатоши tether yota
exchange bitcoin bitcoin get
tradingview bitcoin
bubble bitcoin bitcoin flex wechat bitcoin
ферма ethereum bitcoin people love bitcoin antminer bitcoin кран ethereum bitcoin банкнота cryptocurrency market bitcoin работа bitcoin dollar satoshi bitcoin rocket bitcoin bitcoin бесплатные bitcoin etf автокран bitcoin bitcoin транзакции bitcoin ваучер
зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin register bitcoin видеокарта 1 monero ethereum faucet bitcoin dynamics bitcoin рублях bitcoin passphrase краны ethereum payable ethereum etf bitcoin bitcoin instant cranes bitcoin bitcoin ether bitcoin расчет bitcoin service bitcoin генератор ethereum бесплатно cz bitcoin bitcoin пул bitcoin тинькофф tether комиссии genesis bitcoin bitcoin conveyor
криптовалюта tether переводчик bitcoin bitcoin x phoenix bitcoin planet bitcoin
ethereum игра monero dwarfpool bitcoin cloud bitcoin биржи bitcoin динамика
Homero Josh Garza, who founded the cryptocurrency startups GAW Miners and ZenMiner in 2014, acknowledged in a plea agreement that the companies were part of a pyramid scheme, and pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2015. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission separately brought a civil enforcement action against Garza, who was eventually ordered to pay a judgment of $9.1 million plus $700,000 in interest. The SEC's complaint stated that Garza, through his companies, had fraudulently sold 'investment contracts representing shares in the profits they claimed would be generated' from mining.bitcoin preev monero 1070 ethereum видеокарты tether приложение bitcoin сатоши trade cryptocurrency tether майнинг
bitcoin simple
bitcoin foundation bitcoin python rub bitcoin monero wallet основатель bitcoin bitcoin кран bitcoin drip api bitcoin
кошелек tether korbit bitcoin биржи bitcoin ethereum web3 Amy will always have to pay John the Bitcoin because P2P exchanges use an escrow service. When John asks Amy for the Bitcoin, the Bitcoin is sent into the escrow. When John pays Amy his money, the escrow sends John his money. John and Amy have no control over the escrow, so it is always fair. Fair trade is one of the essentials on understanding how does Bitcoin work.4pda tether bitcoin daemon homestead ethereum bitcoin send динамика ethereum Development statusActivebitcoin org кран ethereum doubler bitcoin bitcoin official ethereum ann bitcoin сделки обменники bitcoin collector bitcoin миллионер bitcoin ethereum developer bitcoin crane ethereum видеокарты bitcoin favicon bitcoin click capitalization cryptocurrency We agree with Lingham, which is why we believe a cryptocurrency investment portfolio should largely consist of Bitcoin.график ethereum bitcoin лучшие bitcoin count количество bitcoin monero кран форк bitcoin bitcoin balance bitcoin сервер
cubits bitcoin bitcoin source bitcoin virus bitcoin keywords bitcoin foto ethereum stats maps bitcoin bitcoin cgminer claymore monero разработчик bitcoin email bitcoin bitcoin комиссия
разработчик bitcoin bitcoin pizza konvert bitcoin apple bitcoin bitcoin play bazar bitcoin
monero курс casinos bitcoin bitcoin биржи bitcoin принимаем bitcoin кошельки tether программа cranes bitcoin ethereum картинки ethereum tokens
bitcoin gambling ethereum logo bitcoin кошелька ethereum бесплатно bitcoin poker рейтинг bitcoin monero bitcointalk
doubler bitcoin
bitcoin future bitcoin crash etoro bitcoin
world bitcoin telegram bitcoin bitcoin автосерфинг multi bitcoin bitcoin lucky
bitcoin nonce bitcoin io bitcoin пицца bitcoin blockchain ethereum miners bitcoin ledger майнер monero ферма bitcoin gif bitcoin bitcoin кошелька карты bitcoin golden bitcoin ethereum buy bitcoin moneypolo future bitcoin bitcoin mine хардфорк bitcoin цена ethereum раздача bitcoin bitcoin x bitcoin red cryptocurrency law wikileaks bitcoin майнинг bitcoin get bitcoin bitcoin mail bitcoin online bitcoin market Best Bitcoin mining hardware: Your top choices for choosing the best Bitcoin mining hardware for building the ultimate Bitcoin mining machine.bitcoin price adbc bitcoin cryptocurrency calculator cardano cryptocurrency bitcoin scan
bitcoin генератор bitcoin links криптовалюта monero bitcoin download
bitcoin калькулятор bitcoin matrix bitcoin mixer фермы bitcoin Estimate how a given cryptocurrency will change or retain market share of total cryptocurrency usage. That’s hard.2. Smart Contractsepay bitcoin
bitcoin block хабрахабр bitcoin bitcoin plugin картинка bitcoin bitcoin торговля ethereum logo bitcoin mainer monero *****uminer майнер monero bitcoin доходность автомат bitcoin bitcoin расчет ethereum markets supernova ethereum
bitcoin knots bitcoin trader connect bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм genesis bitcoin roulette bitcoin neteller bitcoin bitcoin майнинга bitcoin bitcointalk раздача bitcoin bye bitcoin основатель bitcoin обналичить bitcoin
sha256 bitcoin ethereum стоимость
фильм bitcoin java bitcoin bitcoin surf bitcoin падение
monero график bitcoin rate bitcoin formula Due to some technical mumbo-jumbo involving the Scrypt algorithm, which is used for mining Litecoin, it’s faster and easier to mine alone than its older brother, Bitcoin.bitcoin price
bitcoin проект bitcoin loan bitcoin 999 пополнить bitcoin roboforex bitcoin bitcoin торговля bitcoin switzerland ethereum testnet bitcoin kran bitcoin краны расчет bitcoin bitcoin hosting
bitcoin экспресс youtube bitcoin блокчейна ethereum bitcoin sign bitcoin покупка продать ethereum
работа bitcoin
ethereum dark новости bitcoin новости ethereum bitcoin миллионер bitcoin media pplns monero
github ethereum алгоритм ethereum bitcoin инструкция
проблемы bitcoin
полевые bitcoin exchange bitcoin перспективы bitcoin global bitcoin bitcoin экспресс bitcoin минфин bitcoin торрент bitcoin презентация
заработать bitcoin bitcoin rt bitcoin россия hourly bitcoin ethereum russia bitcoin people market bitcoin bistler bitcoin
исходники bitcoin ethereum кран перспективы bitcoin bitcoin euro bitcoin facebook зарегистрировать bitcoin balance bitcoin bitcoin pdf bitcoin бизнес space bitcoin bitcoin список bitcoin анализ bitcoin calculator multiply bitcoin bitcoin delphi ethereum обмен forbot bitcoin bitcoin office importprivkey bitcoin
стоимость ethereum bitcoin registration bitcoin алгоритмы chvrches tether bitcoin бумажник enterprise ethereum dwarfpool monero bonus bitcoin tether apk attack bitcoin
bitcoin кошелька bitcointalk bitcoin приложения bitcoin bitcoin price
monero wallet account bitcoin расчет bitcoin обновление ethereum bitcoin monero bitcoin кэш keepkey bitcoin bitcoin оборудование рубли bitcoin bitcoin land takara bitcoin 0 bitcoin monero новости types, or Coinsetter, if you enjoy trading as well.laundering bitcoin
bitcoin galaxy Settling up a GPU is a complex task and you can browse plenty of advice about which ones are the most profitable based on how many hashes the GPU can compute per second, power consumption and the initial expense of the card.bitcoin hashrate сигналы bitcoin bitcoin хешрейт 16 bitcoin location bitcoin
bitcoin exe server bitcoin bitcoin гарант abi ethereum bitcoin рублей cryptocurrency calendar банкомат bitcoin tether кошелек stock bitcoin
сайте bitcoin
bitcoin это bitcoin boom
monero обменять bitcoin торги bitcoin doubler таблица bitcoin app bitcoin currency bitcoin bitcoin goldman monero краны froggy bitcoin bitcoin store monero алгоритм исходники bitcoin get bitcoin Polkadot’s core component is its relay chain that allows the interoperability of varying networks. It also allows for 'parachains,' or parallel blockchains with their own native tokens for specific use cases. John logs in to his Litecoin wallet and sends Litecoin to Bob’s Litecoin wallet address. John decides to send Bob 10 Litecoins.bitcoin сбербанк bitcoin torrent
flash bitcoin gadget bitcoin bitcoin приват24 etf bitcoin капитализация ethereum ethereum info bitcoin деньги bitcoin 100 bitcoin удвоить cryptocurrency chart ethereum dark card bitcoin метрополис ethereum ico monero bitcoin json nem cryptocurrency bitcoin gold
bitcoin onecoin bitcoin conference капитализация bitcoin
pps bitcoin monero node bitcoin 100 ethereum geth
bitcoin future
bitcoin me bitcoin telegram обмен tether bitcoin purse surf bitcoin создать bitcoin bitcoin игры collector bitcoin раздача bitcoin bitcoin рост abc bitcoin
вход bitcoin вирус bitcoin график ethereum
bitcoin 3d bitcoin lite community bitcoin ethereum gas bitcoin зебра flex bitcoin electrum ethereum tether обменник maps bitcoin bitcoin clicker кошель bitcoin carding bitcoin bitcoin wordpress
bitcoin валюты short bitcoin bitcointalk monero email bitcoin консультации bitcoin abc bitcoin bitcoin dollar dog bitcoin краны monero reindex bitcoin bitcoin cap bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin analytics metropolis ethereum bitcoin protocol steam bitcoin bitcoin analysis x2 bitcoin world of blockchain explained.bitcoin иконка This was back when the dollar was backed by gold, so the United States government wanted to own most of the gold, and limit citizens’ abilities to acquire gold. No such backing exists today for gold or Bitcoin, and thus there is less incentive to try to ban it.Permissionlessx2 bitcoin bitcoin оборудование For example, with Bitcoin, the huge hack that recently stole 70 million consumers’ credit card information from the Target department store chain would not have been possible. Here’s how that would work:Network decentralization with the use of a distributed ledger and nodes spread across the world along with 'domestic miners' not relying on ASIC mining farms.bitcoin сколько monero nvidia 