Just like gold, people also have to mine bitcoins to get new bitcoins or bitcoin mining in the term. This activity "excavates" new bitcoins with computers and software on bitcoin mining servers. Before knowing how to mine bitcoin, there are a few things to consider.
Quoted from CNBC, according to research published by the cryptocurrency buying/selling platform Pintu, bitcoin mining is one way to earn bitcoins.
The bitcoin network is secured by specialized computer units or dispersed (decentralized) miners (btc miners). When sending a transaction to the bitcoin blockchain, these miners are tasked with checking and verifying every transaction that occurs in the bitcoin blockchain network.
Bitcoin mining is the process of verifying bitcoin transactions and creating new bitcoins. For mining bitcoin, miners need a very powerful computer, because bitcoin mining activities require large computing power.
This computer will run software that connects miners to the bitcoin blockchain and solves mathematical problems. These computers are known as nodes.
Since its inception, the number of bitcoins has been limited to 21 million bitcoins. The bitcoin halving phenomenon that occurs every four years has an impact on the decline in the supply of bitcoins in the market, causing scarcity.
Bitcoin has had four halvings. When bitcoin is first launched, every block successfully completed by the miners will be rewarded with a 50 btc reward. In 2012, that number dropped to 25 btc per block, and in 2016 it was reduced to 12.5 btc per block. As of May 2020, the amount of rewards miners receive is 6.25 btc per block.
Bitcoin mining needs
There are three things that are needed before starting to mine bitcoins:
High power computer
Fast internet connection
Huge electricity costs.
To start mining bitcoin, you need a computer and special bitcoin mining hardware. Generally, the hardware for mining bitcoins uses ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Some things to consider when buying an ASIC are:
Price
Hash rate (higher hash rate, faster ASIC)
Electricity requirements (the higher this number, the greater the electricity costs incurred).
Why does bitcoin mining require a lot of electricity? Because the crypto market takes place all the time without holidays. That means, the device will continue to work and requires non-stop electric current.
In addition to hardware, you also need software to mine bitcoin. There are several popular bitcoin mining software that supports bitcoin mining with ASIC, namely:
Bitcoin miner
BTC miner
Easy Miner
CG Miner
BFG miners.
How to mine bitcoin in pool mining
Mining bitcoin in a mining pool, simply means joining forces with other miners in a pool (pool) for bitcoin mining. Later, you will share the rewards for the results obtained from mining.
You have to register for a pool or pool. Furthermore, all miners who are in the same pool agree to share any bitcoin rewards with the other pool members. Thus, you will receive small payments on a regular basis.
How to mine bitcoin cloud mining
The cloud mining method is done by buying CPU power from a data center that has the equipment to perform cryptocurrency mining activities such as bitcoin or other altcoins that can be exchanged for bitcoin.
The advantage of this approach is that there is no need to have in-depth knowledge of mining hardware or purchase expensive and unaffordable equipment. Renting 'hash power' (sometimes measured in Gigahertz per second or GH/s) also means there's no need to deal with the heat and noise in a DIY mining project.
It's just that, how to mine bitcoin with cloud mining has a high risk. For example, to mine bitcoin in cloud mining, you have to pay an advance. If the price of bitcoin is going down, you may be stuck in a contract and mining at a loss, unless the price of bitcoin goes up again.
How to mine bitcoin easy
Mining bitcoin is not the only way to earn bitcoins. Currently, there are many bitcoin trading platforms that can be accessed to buy bitcoins. This option is arguably the easiest because investors only need to download the application on their respective smartphones.