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For instance, the SHA-256 of the term BUTTERFLY (source) is 8c62ace4f9ef8ccd08ca6fb992a8524bb7dbdc0530654bd254c9da07a660949a (HASH). This seemingly random string of letters and numbers has three important properties:

Bitcoin mining involves three variables: the block, the mining difficulty and a random number. Heres how it all comes together:

Imagine our block consists of the term BUTTERFLY discussed earlier. In fact, the block could contain a listing of recent, unverified transactions, but lets keep it simple. In order for the block to be solved, bitcoin utilizes a deceptively simple test: If the HASH result of the block starts with a certain number of zeros, then the cube is considered confirmed.

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For instance, lets say that we have a mining problem of simply two, ie, our HASH must begin with two zeros. .

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The problem: BUTTERFLY will return the same HASH, and it doesnt begin with two zeros. Thus what we need is the next factor, a random number (called a NONCE). We carry this number, combine it with BUTTERFLY, and HASH again. If it doesnt begin with two zeros, we change the number and try again, and since changing one little number changes the whole HASH outcome, there's absolutely no way to predict the number well need to address this! .

We repeat this process over and over until we find a number that, when combined with BUTTERFLY, provides us a HASH that starts with two zeros. That number is the solution to the block. Here are some attempts:

This arduous procedure of randomly trying to find a number that gives the solution is the thing that makes bitcoin mining such a computationally expensive process, and as more miners join the network, the tougher it gets. As of November 2017, a regular home computer working alone, ie, not an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and not a part of a cloud mining network, would require 2.7 million years to mine one block. .

This has led to the rise of ASIC computers built particularly for mining and also to an increase in cloud mining.

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CPU mining. In the first days of bitcoin, mining issue was reduced and not a great deal of miners were competing for cubes and rewards. This made it worthwhile to use your computers own central processing unit (CPU) to mine bitcoin. However, that approach was soon replaced by GPU mining.

GPU mining. A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a powerful processor whose sole objective is to help your computers graphics card in rendering 3D graphics. GPUs are not built for executive decisions (such as CPUs) however to be very good labourers, hence GPUs can execute over 800 times more instructions in precisely the same amount of time as a CPU.

FPGA mining. Next came mining with field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). These greatly outperformed GPUs and CPUs in the mining process as FPGAs are chips which can be programmed to execute specific instructions and only those instructions (instead of being repurposed for mining, such as GPUs were).

ASIC mining. Similar to FPGAs, application-specific integrated circuits are processors designed for a specific function, in our situation mining bitcoin, and nothing else. ASICs for bitcoin were introduced in 2013 and, as of November 2017, they are the best processors available for mining bitcoin and they outperform FPGAs in electricity consumption. .

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Mining pools. To offset the problem of mining a block, miners started organising in cloud or pools mining networks. Whenever a miner in one of these pools solves a block, the payoff is shared with everyone in the pool in a ratio representative of how much work you put into the swimming pool (even though you personally never solved the mystery ). .

Cloud mining. Clouds offer potential miners the ability to buy mining rigs in a remote data centre location. There are many obvious advantages, the most obvious being: no energy costs, no extra heat and nothing to sell when you opt to hang up your digital pickaxe.

Once miners receive bitcoin, they see this here are given a virtual key to the bitcoin addresses. You can use this digital key to gain access and validate or approve transactions.

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Desktop pockets. Software like Bitcoin Core allows you to send and save bitcoin addresses and connects to the network to monitor transactions.

Online wallets. Bitcoin keys are stored online by exchange platforms such as Coinbase or Circle and can be retrieved from anywhere.

Mobile wallets. Apps like Blockchain shop and encrypt your bitcoin keys so about his you can make payments using your mobile device.

Paper wallets. Some websites offer paper wallet services, generating a piece of paper with just two QR codes on it. One code is your public address at which you get bitcoin and the other one is your private address you can use for spending.