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A Short Explanation of How to Mine Bitcoin
Before I get started teaching you how to mine Bitcoin, I should first offer a brief explanation of what we mean when we talk about Bitcoin mining.
As you most likely already know, Bitcoin is a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. It essentially works similar to a bank’s ledger (record of transactions). However, banks need you to trust them. Bitcoin is different. You only need to trust the code that created the network, and its rules. It’s no coincidence that Bitcoin was created just after the global financial crisis of 2008. It’s been designed to be trust-less money!

But wait a minute, if you don’t need to trust a bank, how do you know that people won’t cheat the network? How do you know that every Bitcoin can only be spent once?

The network is secured by specialized computer units called miners that are distributed across a large number of unique entities. When you submit a transaction to the Bitcoin blockchain, these miners need to check that you have the necessary Bitcoin to send it, and that various other rules are followed.

How to mine Bitcoin: mining rigs.

Source: IEEE

Transactions are grouped into blocks and then a string of characters must be guessed by the miners on the network. These characters are known as the “hash” of the block. Each block contains the hash of the previous block, as well as a new hash that needs to be guessed.

Once correctly guessed, the miner can add the block to the chain. This guessing process is called “proof-of-work”. It’s the single most important security feature that you need to know to know how to mine Bitcoin.

By including the hash of the previous block, the other miners on the network can verify that those transactions contained in a block did come after those in the blocks that went before it. This collection of blocks in the sequence is the blockchain. Simple, right?

Block Rewards and Miner Fees
Miners unlock new Bitcoin when they add a block to the blockchain. They also get the reward of the fees that users include in their transactions. This makes it worthwhile to spend money on the electricity and computer systems needed to mine. When each Bitcoin is worth thousands of dollars, it’s a very strong incentive indeed!