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For example, the SHA-256 of the 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 cube consists of the term BUTTERFLY discussed earlier. In reality, 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 begins with a certain number of zeros, 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 should start with two zeros. .
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The problem: BUTTERFLY will always return the same HASH, and it doesnt begin with two zeros. So what we need is the third 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 is no method 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 begins with two zeros. That number is your solution to the block. Here are some attempts:
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. At 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 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 rewarding to utilize your computers own central processing unit (CPU) to mine bitcoin. However, that strategy was soon replaced by GPU mining.

FPGA mining. Next came mining using field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). These greatly outperformed GPUs and CPUs in the mining procedure 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 article circuits are chips designed for a particular purpose, in 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 electricity consumption. .
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Mining pools. To offset the difficulty 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 reward is shared with everyone in the swimming pool in a ratio representative of just how much work you put into the pool (even though you personally never solved the puzzle). .
Cloud mining. Clouds offer prospective miners the ability to purchase mining rigs in a remote data centre location. There are many obvious advantages, the most obvious being: no electricity costs, no excess heat and nothing to sell 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 digital key to access and confirm or approve transactions.
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Desktop wallets. Software like Bitcoin Core lets you send and save bitcoin addresses and connects to the network to track transactions.
Online wallets. Bitcoin keys are stored online by exchange programs like Coinbase or Circle and can be retrieved from anywhere.
Mobile wallets. Programs like Blockchain shop and encrypt your own bitcoin keys you can check here so that you can make payments using your cellular device.
Paper wallets. Some sites offer paper wallet services, generating a bit of paper with just two QR codes on it. One code is your public address where you receive bitcoin and the other one is your personal address you can use for spending.