Tuto mining #0 : Introduction - What is mining, how cryptocurrency works ?

Hello everyone and welcome to this first tutorial in which will be an introduction to mining.
In this tutorial, we will see how cryptocurrency works and what mining is all about.

A cryptocurrency is a currency based on a blockchain. Many people call them "virtual currencies" or it's totally false since they are based on real funds, have a price in $ or € and can be exchanged like any "real" currency, so it's just as "real currencies" as "virtual currencies".
But then, how can a currency function without being physical like a banknote or coin?
Well everything is possible thanks to the principle of blockchain. A blockchain is a publicly accessible database that stores each of the transactions / exchanges that took place on a network (in a nutshell).
Transactions make it possible to know continuously who owns which tokens. This makes it possible to fully secure the network. Thus we can not copy or duplicate tokens to pay them on his account. This security is allowed thanks to the miners. They verify and approve the various exchanges that take place on the network by providing computing power to the network. The machines that perform the calculations use the cryptographic principle hence the name "cryptocurrency"

When a transaction is submitted to the network, the different hashes that make up the transaction will identify who sends which tokens to whom. These hashes can be written in different algorithms (SHA-256, EtHash, equihash, scrypt, X11 ...) which are each used on crypto-currencies with specific characteristics.
Once the miner has verified that the transaction is valid (the person who sends has the correct number of token on his account / wallet ...) he writes the transaction in a new block which will be registered in the blockchain. After writing all the transactions, the miner must write his block in the blockchain. For this, an extremely complex mathematical problem is submitted to him (proof of work). Once the calculation is resolved, its block is written in the blockchain. To be rewarded, the miner is paid on his account a number of tokens newly created by the network. Often, miners gather in pool to have a greater computing power and thus be able to submit new blocks more easily and get paid more often.

Now that you know how crypto-currencies work and the importance of mining, you will be able to start mining different cryptocurrencies to receive free money in the form of the chosen currency.

Today, one can mine with its CPU, its GPU or with specialized machines called ASICs. These different means of mining are each adapted to different algorithms. (ASICs are used on SHA-256, scrypt and X11, which makes CPU and GPU useless, the Cryptonight algorithm can be CPU-undermined and other algorithms like EtHash or equihash are more suitable for GPUs).

The next tutorials will show different ways to mine with CPU, GPU and ASIC. You can follow me if you are interested! feel free to write comments for me to improve and do not forget to vote for my post ;-)

Good day to all !