Mining is the process of adding transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger of past transactions.
This ledger of past transactions is called the block chain as it is a chain of blocks.
The block chain serves to confirm
transactions to the rest of the network as having taken place.
Bitcoin nodes use the block chain to distinguish legitimate Bitcoin
transactions from attempts to re-spend coins that have already been
spent elsewhere.
Mining is intentionally designed to be resource-intensive and
difficult so that the number of blocks found each day by miners remains
steady. Individual blocks must contain a proof of work to be considered valid. This proof of work is verified by other Bitcoin nodes each time they receive a block. Bitcoin uses the hashcash proof-of-work function.
The primary purpose of mining is to allow Bitcoin nodes to reach a
secure, tamper-resistant consensus.
Mining is also the mechanism used to introduce Bitcoins into the system:
Miners are paid any transaction fees as well as a "subsidy" of newly
created coins.
This both serves the purpose of disseminating new coins in a
decentralized manner as well as motivating people to provide security
for the system.
Bitcoin mining is so called because it resembles the mining of
other commodities:
it requires exertion and it slowly makes new currency available at a
rate that resembles the rate at which commodities like gold are mined
from the ground.


0 Reviews:
Post Your Review