In this post we will continue our series on bitcoin mining, if you have not yet read our first post we recommend that you go there to create the basics for you to understand the subject discussed here.

As we explained in the first post, traditional currencies - such as kwanza, the dollar or the euro - are issued by central banks. The central bank can issue new units of money at any time, based on what they think will improve the economy.

Bitcoin is Different.

With Bitcoin, miners receive new bitcoins every 10 minutes.

The emission rate is defined in the code, so miners cannot cheat the system or create bitcoins out of the blue. They need to use their computing power to generate the new bitcoins.

How does Bitcoin mining work?
Step 1: Imagine that you want to pay using bitcoins to buy a computer. If the cost of the computer is 300 dollars, which at the time of writing this post will be around 0.03427373 bitcoin. While you buy on a computer, other people around the world also buy things with bitcoin.

Step 2: Bitcoin mining nodes (the network) are informed about these transactions that are taking place.

Step 3: Now, the Bitcoin miner must verify your transaction. You cannot take your computer home until the Bitcoin miner checks your transaction.
But wait. What does verification of a transaction mean and how is it done?

Bitcoin miners run Bitcoin mining software that solves mathematical problems - imagine a computer that runs a really complicated puzzle! With each block of transactions, the problem / puzzle they must solve is different.

Many Bitcoin miners try to solve the problem at the same time, but the miner who solves it first is who is rewarded with the new bitcoin. It's like a race!

Bitcoin miners keep data on all past Bitcoin transactions that have already taken place. I will call this "old transaction database".
So, what is bitcoin mining transaction? When you send Bitcoin, Bitcoin miners check the 'old transaction database' before checking. This ensures that you have not spent the same bitcoin on any of the previous transactions. As we said above, not to trick the system and create bitcoins out of nothing.

They also check if you have enough bitcoin. In our example, the transaction is 0.03427373 Bitcoin. Therefore, Bitcoin miners will verify that you have 0.03427373 bitcoin before checking. If you do not have 0.03427373 bitcoin, your transaction will not be verified and you will not be able to buy your computer. Sorry, it is a double spend as we talked about in the Introduction!
Ok, we are back to buying your computer ...

Step 4: the first miner to solve the puzzle (let's call him 'Kizua'), he must inform the rest of the nodes that he has solved the puzzle. Other miners then check whether Kizua's solution to the puzzle is correct.

Step 5: When 51% of the other miners agree that Kizua has the right solution, his 0.03427373 bitcoin is verified and sent.
Note: As mentioned above, the minimum time to verify a transaction is 10 minutes. But with the growing number of bitcoin transactions, it can sometimes take 35 to 40 minutes or more.

Step 6: The Bitcoin miner finishes checking the block / group your transaction is in. The transaction is complete! Yay - you can take your computer home!

One of the best things about Bitcoin mining is that the person who chooses to become a miner does not need to know how to solve problems or be good at math. They just need Bitcoin mining hardware (a powerful computer) and bitcoin mining software.

As you can see, Bitcoin mining is not that difficult to understand. You can mine Bitcoin. Anyway, the next big question in your mind is probably something similar to 'How can you mine bitcoin?' In the next chapters we will talk about cloud mining and the companies that we recommend that you invest your bitcoins.

But before we talk about machines to mine bitcoin, stay tuned in the next post :)

Origianl article: https://www.bitcoinangola.net/2020/01/como-funciona-mineracao-de-bitcoin-guia.html

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