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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 would contain a list of recent, unverified transactions, but lets keep it simple. In order for the block to be solved, bitcoin uses a deceptively simple test: If the HASH consequence of the block begins with a certain number of zeros, then the cube is considered confirmed.

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

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The difficulty: BUTTERFLY will return the same HASH, and it doesnt begin with two zeros. So what we need is the next factor, a random number (known as 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 because changing one little number changes the entire HASH result, there's absolutely no way to predict the number well need to solve this! .

We repeat this procedure 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 your solution to the block. Here are some tries:

This arduous process of randomly trying to find a number that supplies the solution is the thing that creates bitcoin mining such a computationally expensive procedure, and as more miners join the network, the harder it gets. As of 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, would require 2.7 million years to mine one block. .

This has led to the rise of ASIC computers built specifically 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 low and not a lot of miners were competing for blocks and rewards. This made it rewarding to utilize your computers own central processing unit (CPU) to mine bitcoin. However, that approach was soon replaced by GPU mining.

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

FPGA look at more info mining. Next came mining using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). These greatly outperformed GPUs and CPUs in the mining process as FPGAs are processors that can be programmed to perform 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 particular purpose, in like this our case mining bitcoin, and nothing else. ASICs for bitcoin were introduced in 2013 and, as of November 2017, they're the best processors available for mining bitcoin and they outperform FPGAs in power consumption. .

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

Cloud mining. Clouds offer prospective miners the capability to buy mining channels in a remote data centre location. There are many obvious advantages, the most obvious being: no electricity expenses, no extra heat and nothing to sell when you opt to hang your digital pickaxe.

Once miners receive bitcoin, they 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 wallets. Software such as Bitcoin Core lets you send and save bitcoin addresses and connects to the network to track transactions.

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

Mobile wallets. Programs like Blockchain store and encrypt your bitcoin keys so you can make payments using your mobile device.

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