What is Bitcoin Mining and What are its Requirements?

Bitcoin mining refers to recovery or acquiring of Bitcoin. By the term mining, generally, the process of extracting by the act of digging comes to the mind. But Bitcoin mining is a completely different procedure as it is a digital currency. A computer and certain special programs are required for the Bitcoin mining. Miners are supposed to use this program and various other computer resources so that they could compete with other miners in order to solve the complicated mathematical problems. In about every ten minutes, the miners try to solve a block, which carries the latest transaction data with the help of cryptographic hash functions.

Who Are Bitcoin Miners?
In the starting, cryptography enthusiasts were considered as Bitcoin miners. Interested people started to use their spare computer power to validate the blockchain, which eventually helped them in earning Bitcoin. As the Bitcoin’s value went up, more people started to see mining as a potential business. They started to invest in warehouses and hardware to mine as many Bitcoin as possible.

Hardware Required for Bitcoin Mining
There are several pieces of equipment needed for Bitcoin mining and some of them are mentioned below:

• CPU: Initially, CPU was the only option to mine Bitcoin and it was only possible with the help of original Satoshi client. In order to secure the network and get rewarded by more Bitcoin, miners have innovated many other ways now, which have made CPU mining absolute now. You might keep mining for decades using your laptop and still won’t get any result.
• GPU: After a year and a half of the network establishment, high-end graphics cards proved to be much efficient at Bitcoin mining. This is how the complete scenario of Bitcoin mining changed. CPU bitcoin mining gave way to the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit). The efficient working of GPUs allowed the increment of 50x to 100x in Bitcoin mining power while being economical as it used far less power per unit of work.
• FPGA: With the CPU to GPU transition, the system of Bitcoin mining progressed up the technology food chain to the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). After the establishment of the Butterfly Labs FPGA 'Single', the Bitcoin mining hardware landscape made the path for specially manufactured hardware entirely dedicated to mining Bitcoins.
• ASIC: The Bitcoin mining world has become a major part of the Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) era. An ASIC is a chip designed specifically for only one purpose. Unlike FPGAs, you cannot repurpose ASIC to perform other tasks.

Bitcoin Mining is surely a complex process and it requires a high level of understanding of the Bitcoin system. So, it is wise to consult experienced and professional traders in order to get guidance for it. Mentioned above are the major hardware required for the Bitcoin mining.

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