Bitcoin is a currency that is not issued by any bank. There are two ways of acquiring it – buying with real money through exchange sites and by mining with software known as Bitcoin Miner. Read on to know more on BTC mining activity and find out if it is still worth using your personal computer for the extraction of the coin.
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What is Bitcoin Miner?
Bitcoin Miner is the software responsible for the mining of digital currency. It works as a bridge for those who want to use the machine itself to extract Bitcoins. This type of application also updates mining information extracted from the blockchain, a public database that records transactions performed with the virtual currency around the world.
How does mining work?
Although it does not require tractors and excavation, imagine Bitcoin as a huge rock. In the end, at the bottom, is the reward. To get to it, you must go breaking part by part. Roughly this is how Bitcoins mining works.
Instead of extracting tons of earth, one uses the processing power of a machine to break the encrypted codes. The difficulty begins when a very limited number of fragments – called blocks – of Bitcoins are made available for mining. A hash, encrypted string containing a BTC value, is only freed from time to time by open source software, which controls the entire system.
That is, by mining the coin, you offer the computing power of your computer to help decrypt the encrypted codes, which are thrown in a random sequence defined by the system. Over time, it is increasingly time-consuming to decrypt these fragments, as the system is programmed to increase the level of difficulty.
Processing power
Success in mining is directly linked to the capacity of the machine, especially in relation to the video card. The better the performance and processing power, the faster the mining will be. The more modest machines, using onboard video card can take a long time to be able to extract a satisfactory BTC fraction.
SEE ALSO: Bitcoin Mining Consumes More Electricity Than 159 Countries
One way to increase speed is to participate in pools (groups of people who share the mining and profits). But it is also possible to hire a mining by the cloud or buy a specific machine for mining.
Machines
The task of mining Bitcoins may not be as profitable on ordinary computers. Therefore, some companies manufacture specific hardware for BTC mining. These machines have the high processing power and require high investment.
Bitmain is an Asian company specializing in manufacturing specific hardware for mining. Some models can reach 4.7 Thash / s, that is, can process almost 5 trillion calculations per second. For comparison, a common video card, such as the GTX 560 Ti, can reach 85.1 Mhash / s, something around 85 million calculations per second.
Bitcoin Miner Programs
Get to know some Bitcoin Miner software (it’s worth mentioning that to use them, you need specific knowledge, just install it on your computer if you know how to move).
| CGMiner | It has no graphics interface; it is well known and used. Available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. |
| EasyMiner | It has an intuitive interface. Available for Windows, Linux, and Android. |
| GUIMiner | Simple and widely used interface for those who want to mine through pools. Available for Windows and Mac OS. |
