Mining Bitcoin

This currency is being utilized by more and more websites and organizations. As
we mentioned earlier, Namecheap, the well-known domain name registrar, just
recently started taking Bitcoins as payment.
Other companies are starting to adopt it as well. For bitcoins to be usable, one has
to first mine them via a computer engaging in a mathematical process to add them
to the public ledger that keeps track of all bitcoins on the Bitcoin network. You’ll
learn more about this process below.
Bitcoin mining involves a software program known as a “bitcoin miner.” This
program is downloaded onto any device that can connect to the Internet, such as
a desktop computer, laptop computer, Smartphone, or tablet.
However, the process is resource-intensive, and even high-end computers with
graphical processing units (GPUs) have only a very limited ability to mine Bitcoins.
You really need a Field Programmatic Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application Specific
Integrated Circuit (ASIC) to really be able to mine bitcoins on your own. If you
have either of those, you are in much better shape to mine bitcoins on your own.
The bitcoin miners communicate over the Bitcoin network and verify all legitimate
transactions by adding them to a central log, known as the “block chain,” that is
updated periodically across the entire Bitcoin network. Think public ledger!
The block chain helps to ensure that the total number of bitcoins in circulation at
any one time is always known and recorded. The idea behind this is to attempt to
keep the value of the Bitcoin currency as stable as possible. When the log is
updated, more bitcoins are added to the network as well.
As mentioned above, bitcoin mining is resource-intensive. This was designed on
purpose to ensure that bitcoins cannot be produced more frequently than what was
designed to occur.