If you hear the word “mining” being used in the same breath as Bitcoin, then it’s talking about the production of coins in this modern digital currency. All Bitcoin transactions are recorded in “blocks” that make up the backbone of the coin. Just as with other currencies, there has to be a record of transactions, but the blocks in the blockchain ensure that everything is recorded and can’t be falsified.

Banks and governments usually back and keep tabs on currencies, but cryptocurrencies are different. The whole system is decentralized, meaning no one completely controls it. Bitcoin mining is the process by which computers are used to solve the mathematical problems which verify the creation of newly discovered Bitcoins. Mining produces Bitcoin at a rate of one block every 10 minutes.

Each block is a piece of encrypted work that must be solved through mining. Mining computers use software to solve algorithms related to transactions. They are paid in Bitcoins for the work they do.

Bitcoin mining used to be done on the kind of typical personal computers that we all use. But as more people got involved the algorithms became more difficult to solve and it was then the turn of multi-card graphics systems, then FPGAs and then ASIC systems to pit themselves against the math. This escalation of difficulty has meant that mining has now moved to the realm of professional setups using mining pools for greater speed and efficiency.