There are several main technologies used to mine Bitcoin:
CPU (Central Processing Unit): In the early days of Bitcoin, mining was done using regular CPUs. However, today this method is ineffective due to the high complexity of the calculations.
GPU (Graphics Processing Unit): Video cards provide much more computing power than CPUs. They are still used to mine some altcoins, but their efficiency has also decreased for Bitcoin.
FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array): These are programmable chips that can be configured to perform specific tasks, such as mining. They are more efficient than GPUs, but inferior to ASICs1.
ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit): Specialized integrated circuits designed exclusively for mining. They are the most efficient and popular Bitcoin mining devices. Examples include the Bitmain Antminer series and the MicroBT WhatsMiner2.
These technologies allow miners to solve complex mathematical problems needed to confirm transactions and add new blocks to the blockchain.
