Cryptocurrency mining, or cryptomining, is a process in which transactions for various forms of cryptocurrency are verified and added to the blockchain digital ledger. Also known as cryptocoin mining, altcoin mining, or Bitcoin mining (for the most popular form of cryptocurrency, Bitcoin), cryptocurrency mining has increased both as a topic and activity as cryptocurrency usage itself has grown exponentially in the last few years.
Each time a cryptocurrency transaction is made, a cryptocurrency miner is responsible for ensuring the authenticity of information and updating the blockchain with the transaction. The mining process itself involves competing with other cryptominers to solve complicated mathematical problems with cryptographic hash functions that are associated with a block containing the transaction data.
Unlike paper money, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are produced mathematically and held digitally. The people who voluntarily offer their computing power to secure these cryptocurrency networks are called miners. Cryptocurrencies don’t have a central government or other so-called ‘middlemen’ that decide about the future of the system. – They are in fact digital, borderless democracies in which miners vote with their computing power to reach order and consensus.
Cryptocurrency networks need computational power to run securely. The world’s most powerful blockchains are supported by millions of computers around the world.
Today, bitcoin is the most secure computer network on the planet and it’s practically impossible to break it! The reason for that is hash power, the umbrella term used for the computing power that miners provide to the bitcoin network and similar cryptocurrency networks. Due to the rapid growth of the ecosystem, mining operations today are mostly running with specialized high-performance computers that function most efficiently set up in large data centers.
To keep the integrity (and values!) of all cryptocurrency ecosystems intact, miners keep the networks safe and its authority decentralized by keeping each other constantly in check. This allows both a healthy growth and a fair distribution of currency units to all crypto-citizens!
The only way to not create money out of thin air or corrupt it, is to burn real energy. This is called Proof-Of-Work.As miners, we are processing and verifying the transactions of the cryptocurrency ecosystems and keeping their public transaction history (=blockchains) maintained and secure. For this, the mining community is rewarded with the networks’ transaction fees and newly created coins. It’s a win-win situation! When you start mining with us, you are getting your share of this reward.
It all comes down to trust: Miners keep the blockchains trustworthy and are rewarded for their efforts.