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For instance, the SHA-256 of this word BUTTERFLY (source) is 8c62ace4f9ef8ccd08ca6fb992a8524bb7dbdc0530654bd254c9da07a660949a (HASH). This seemingly random string of letters and numbers contains three important properties:
Bitcoin mining involves three factors: the block, the mining difficulty and a random number. Heres how it all comes together:
Imagine our block consists of the word BUTTERFLY discussed previously. In fact, the cube could contain a listing of recent, unverified transactions, but lets keep it simple. In order for the block to be solved, bitcoin utilizes a simple test: If the HASH result of the block begins with a certain number of zeros, the cube is considered confirmed.
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For instance, lets say that we've a mining difficulty of simply two, ie, our HASH must start with two zeros. .
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The problem: BUTTERFLY will always return the exact same HASH, and it doesnt begin with two zeros. Thus what we need is the next variable, a random number (known as a NONCE). We take this number, combine it with BUTTERFLY, and HASH again. If it doesnt begin with two zeros, we change the number and try again, and because changing one small number changes the whole HASH result, there is no method to forecast the number well need to solve this! .
We repeat this process over and over until we find a number that, when combined with BUTTERFLY, provides us a HASH that begins with two zeros. That number is your solution to the block. Here are some attempts:
This arduous procedure of randomly trying to find a number that supplies the solution is what creates bitcoin mining such a computationally expensive process, and as more miners join the network, the harder it gets. At November 2017, a normal home computer working alone, ie, not an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and not a part of a cloud mining network, could take 2.7 million years to mine one block. .
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CPU mining. In the first days of bitcoin, mining difficulty was reduced and not a great deal of miners were competing for blocks and rewards. This made it worthwhile to use your computers own central processing unit (CPU) to mine bitcoin. However, that strategy was soon replaced by GPU mining.
FPGA mining. Next came mining with field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). These significantly outperformed GPUs and CPUs in the mining procedure as FPGAs are processors 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 case mining bitcoin, and nothing else. ASICs for bitcoin were introduced in 2013 and, as of November 2017, they are the best processors out there for mining bitcoin and they outperform FPGAs in power consumption. .
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Mining pools. To offset the difficulty of mining a block, miners started organising in pools or cloud mining networks. Whenever a miner in one of these pools solves a block, the reward is shared with everyone in the pool in a ratio representative of how much work you put into the pool (even though you personally never solved the mystery ). .
Cloud mining. Clouds provide prospective miners the ability to purchase mining rigs in a remote data centre location. There are many obvious advantages, the most obvious being: no energy expenses, no extra heat and nothing to market when you decide to hang up your digital pickaxe.
Once miners receive bitcoin, they are given a digital key to the bitcoin addresses. You can use this electronic key to access and confirm or approve transactions.
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Desktop pockets. Software like Bitcoin Core allows you to send and store 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 store and encrypt your own bitcoin keys so you can make payments using your cellular device.
Paper wallets. Some sites offer paper wallet solutions, generating a piece of paper with just two QR codes on it. One code is the public address at which you receive bitcoin and the other one is the personal address you can use for spending.