Bitcoin mining
 

Can someone explain succinctly (in one short paragraph at the most) what exactly is bitcoin mining and how this translates into currency?

I could google the answer but that's no fun.

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

Plug in a powerful computer, make it do stuff, like sums and transactional stuff or something and then for every so often (long time) you get a bitcoin or part of a bitcoin.

Something like that anyway.

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

I understood that much already. But and this is a big but, what converts the sums into bitcoin?

As far as I can tell it's no different from me doing a bunch of sums on a paper and declaring it to be fiat currency?

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

You do it for Bitcoin I believe. Must have to log in to some sort of destination to complete the sums / work.

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

I think I understand now.... ;)

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

Is it a bit like SETI @ home where they used people's computers to go through the masses of data they were getting from radio telescopes in the hope of finding ET?

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

I think what I suggest is at least nearly there anyway...

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

I just had a fun few minutes researching the net.

At its core the bitcoin is the following:

By solving a complex mathematical puzzle that is part of the bitcoin program, and including the answer in the block. The puzzle that needs solving is to find a number that, when combined with the data in the block and passed through a hash function, produces a result that is within a certain range. This is much harder than it sounds.

(For trivia lovers, this number is called a "nonce", which is a concatenation of "number used once." In the case of bitcoin, the nonce is an integer between 0 and 4,294,967,296.)

If your program finds the answer and solves the puzzle, you are rewarded with a bitcoin. And that has transaction value solely because it's accepted by others as having transaction value.

It's all very intriguing. I think I'm going to be thinking about the implications of this all day.

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

Nonce. Snigger.

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

Yeah. Ironic, isn't it?

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

Just ****ing stupid for whoever coined it for this. Nevermind.

I'm going to spend my time reading about the Cheltenham festival today, seems just as educated as investing my time in Bitcoin...?

Re: Bitcoin mining
 

broken down in very simple terms
besides some other very very interesting facts pointed out as well
Ethereum below $700 and Bitcoin down to $9k
#hodlgang is SO rekt! :D