Bitcoin (BTC) mining is a distributed consensus system for confirming pending transactions by adding them to the blockchain. It secures and synchronizes all users in the network.

The process of mining involves creating new blocks by solving a mathematical puzzle. The puzzle is to find a hash value that is less than or equal to the target hash. A hash function is a one-way cryptographic algorithm that converts input data into a unique fixed-length output. In the Bitcoin network, this function is SHA-256.

Miners use specialized hardware (such as ASIC miners) to perform massive hashing computations in an attempt to find the suitable hash value. Once a qualifying hash is found, the new block is created and added to the blockchain, and the miner is rewarded with new Bitcoins.

Bitcoin mining is a resource-intensive process that requires substantial electricity and computing power. Over time, the mining difficulty is automatically adjusted to maintain an average block generation time of approximately 10 minutes. This adjustment mechanism ensures the security and decentralization of the network.

Furthermore, as the mining difficulty increases and the supply of Bitcoin is finite (capped at 21 million), the block rewards for mining decrease. This process is known as “halving” and occurs roughly every four years. Halving effectively cuts the rate at which new Bitcoins are produced, making them a scarce resource. $BTC