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

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

Imagine our block consists of the term BUTTERFLY discussed previously. In fact, the cube would 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, the cube is considered verified.

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For instance, lets say that we have a mining difficulty of just two, ie, our HASH should start with two zeros. .

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The difficulty: BUTTERFLY will return the exact same HASH, and it doesnt start with two zeros. So 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 start with two zeros, we change the number and try again, and because changing one small number changes the entire HASH outcome, there is no way to forecast the number well need to address this! .

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

This arduous procedure of randomly trying to find a number that gives the solution is what makes bitcoin mining such a computationally expensive procedure, 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 part of a cloud mining network, would require 2.7 million years into mine one Crypto Bank 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 early days of bitcoin, mining issue was reduced and not a great deal of miners were competing for blocks and rewards. This made it rewarding to use your computers own central processing unit (CPU) to mine bitcoin. However, that strategy was soon replaced by GPU mining.

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

FPGA mining. Next came mining using 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, like GPUs were).

ASIC mining. Comparable to FPGAs, application-specific integrated circuits are processors designed for a particular 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 available for mining bitcoin and they outperform FPGAs in power consumption. .

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Mining pools. To cancel 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 how much work you put into the pool (even though you personally never solved the puzzle). .

Cloud mining. Clouds provide potential miners the capability 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 opt to hang your digital pickaxe.

Once miners get bitcoin, they are given a digital 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 lets you send and store bitcoin addresses and connects to the network to monitor transactions.

Online wallets. Bitcoin keys are stored online by exchange programs like Coinbase or Circle and can be retrieved from anywhere.

Mobile wallets. Apps like Blockchain shop 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 your public address where you receive bitcoin and the other is your private address you can use for spending.