Bitcoin Mining
The images on the internet show bitcoin mining in a form reminiscent of the old gold rush miners, pickaxes digging out the gold. The actual mining is not quite like that and it changes over time. Bitcoin miners are a special necessity in the bitcoin network. When a bitcoin is spent, a transaction occurs. Your transaction is verified by checking back through the transactions to ensure that you have the bitcoin available to spend. Your wallet synchronizes with the network to make sure that it is up-to-date and accurately reflects the amount of bitcoin you have available. When the transaction is created, it floats into the network and is considered an unconfirmed transaction because it has not yet been allocated to a block on the blockchain. The blockchain is a public ledger and every transaction has to be verified and placed into a block. Mining is the process of verifying each transaction. It is important that transactions are added in order. Otherwise, an unscrupulous per...