DEV Community

Cover image for Introduction to Bitcoin Mining: History, Mining Mechanics, Evolution and Future Forecast
Emmanuel Fajinmi
Emmanuel Fajinmi

Posted on • Edited on

Introduction to Bitcoin Mining: History, Mining Mechanics, Evolution and Future Forecast

Introduction to Bitcoin Mining: History, Mining Mechanics, Evolution and Future Forecast

In our ever-changing world, change is one thing that always constant. One change that has impacted our lives, the way we see and use money over the last 10 years is Bitcoin. From a place where physical cash was king and banks acted as middlemen to another where transactions are been decentralized, encrypted and done without the banks.

Bitcoin, the chief cryptocurrency was birth and developed in the year of 2009, it holds the record for been the most expensive digital currency since it creation. Selling at price of $ 57,012 today. The creation of this digital gold comes from a series of process called Bitcoin Mining. Have you ever wondered what this process entails? Sit down and hold on tight to this article because we will be exploring them.

The table of contents is as follows:

• What is Bitcoin?
• Dissection of its mechanics
• The Role of NFTs and Liquid Bitcoin Hashrate (LBH) in
Bitcoin Mining (GoMining)
• What does Bitcoin Halving mean
• Exploring the social and economic impacts of Bitcoin
Mining on Communities
• Emerging Trends and the future of Bitcoin Mining

What is Bitcoin?..

Bitcoin is a digital currency, that was developed in 2009 by an unidentified person or group of persons under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto making possible for people to send and receive money without the control of a central bank or authority while using the currency decentralized network.

Image description

Dissecting its mechanics

When Bitcoin is to created and mined, it goes through different processes. Blocks are first created by miners on the blockchain network and it is broadcasted into new transactions that is then verified. But before it gets accepted, miners need to show their Proof of Work(PoW).The rate at which blocks are generated and verified heavily depends on the mining power of the blockchain network. This also depends significantly on the processing power of the mining equipment.

The difficulty goal is changed every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, to maintain an average interval of 10 minutes between new blocks.

Evolution of its Mining Hardware

Since the birth of Bitcoin, mining it has been profitable through different ways. Let's check out the evolution of bitcoin mining hardware.

Image description

Bitcoin mining using the CPU
When Bitcoin came out orginally, mining for it was an easy task that could be using the central processing unit (CPU) of a standard computer. Because of the network's tiny size then and the cryptographic easy mining daily goal, atypical user could use a computer system CPU to mine.

GPUs Replace CPUs
When more miners joined the network, the difficulty goal increased and the competition got fiercer. Miners had to move from CPUs to GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) because of its PoW (Proof of Work) algorithm's parallel processing power, which increased mining efficiency. With this change, bitcoin miners mined more bitcoins in less time also it improved the network security.

THE INTRODUCTION OF FPGAs AND ASICs
Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) was introduced in the year of 2013.These are special hardware devices made for the sole purpose of mining bitcoin. They are more effective than GPUs. They don't require much time to perform PoW calculations and they do it at a faster speed
But these equipments are quite expensive and they have high power consumption

Mining made possible through the cloud
Large mining companies began to join and dominate the mining space for this reason some service providers decided to provide cloud-based mining services allowing customers to mine without buying the expensive equipment. The service offers a variety of items, each with a distinct rate of return and varying durations and electrical power costs. Service providers provide customer support and mining is done remotely. Some examples of cloud-based mining service providers are Hashing24 and ECOS.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Added Advantage
Many miners of cryptocurrencies may be able to maximize their mining output through AI features and capability. Quantum Blockchain Technologies (QBT), a UK-based company, has created AI algorithms to boost the productivity of ASIC bitcoin miners.

The Role of NFT's and Liquid Bitcoin Hashrate (LBH) in Bitcoin Mining

As the difficulty of bitcoin mining increased, mining companies had to look at other alternatives to reduce the energy they consumed when mining bitcoin and in other to make it easier for other miners to mine, NFTs were considered to be another means of mining Bitcoin without consumption of much power energy .

What are non-fungible tokens (NFTs)? These are digital assets that have been converted to tokens. Tokens on the other hand are distinct symbols or identifiers generated from metadata using an algorithm that has been encrypted. Depending on their market and owner worth, NFTs can be traded and exchanged for cash, cryptocurrencies, or other NFTs.

Meanwhile, hashrate is the measure of security of a blockchain network mining difficulty. The computing power of a proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrency network, collective, or person is measured by their hash rate.

Still on the purpose of simplifying mining processes With the usage of NFTs, a platform named GoMining was developed to make the process of mining Bitcoin easier. Miners can buy NFTs with the mining power of a bitcoin mining machine. Therefore, an NFT that symbolizes a greater mining capability has more power.

GoMining platform provides a range of NFTs at different prices and hash rates. You can mine Bitcoin by buying an NFT that fits your budget.

Steps to start mining BTC with GoMining NFTs

You can use NFTs to mine BTC on the GoMining platform by following these steps.

Step 1: Create a Gomining account
To register for a GoMining account, do the following:

i. Go to https://gmt.io/, the official GoMining website, and click the Get Started button.

ii. A link to the NFT marketplace will appear. Select the "Get Started" option to register for an account.

III. To register, use your email address or a web 3 wallet.

IV. You will then need to confirm your email address. To validate your account, click the verification link that was sent to your email address.

Step 2: Register for the NFT trial at no cost.

Once your account has been created, you must register for the NFT free trial. You may mine Bitcoin for free for seven days with this. Go to the NFT Game section and adhere to the instructions provided.

Step 3: Keep an eye on your NFT.
You may view your NFT in your GoMining wallet as soon as your trial period starts.

Go to the Dashboard tab under the My NFT section to see the total rewards you have received from your NFT.

Here are links to Youtube tutorials on how to use and get the most out of the GoMining platform

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GphH5-3OoNg
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb154wuJOHr3vFW9J6w7W0nPEORkkXd2L

What does Bitcoin Halving Mean?
After 4 years or after 210,000 blocks have been mined successfully by the network, Bitcoin miners receive a block reward that is halved. This reduces the amount of fresh bitcoins issued into circulation by half, this event is known as the "halving."

Addressing Environmental Impacts of Bitcoin Mining on Communities
The huge amount of energy that is consumed and used during the bitcoin mining has drawn much concern and critics. Some miners have opted to using renewable energy sources to reduce their carbon output footprint. In reaction to the concerns gotten from the global community, major mining companies and individuals are moving towards utilizing energy-efficient mining equipments and investing in renewable energy. Progressively, the industry has evolved from lone hobby miners to large-scale enterprises and increased competition mostly due to the introduction of new technologies. Since its beginning, bitcoin mining has advanced dramatically, and today whole server farms and data centers are devoted solely to mining activities. The mining of Bitcoin uses much energy power and large-scale miners are responsible for a large amount of it that is used for mining. One of the major reasons for this is that bitcoin and other cryptocurriencs are widely accepted in the society.

Image description

Latest Trends in the Bitcoin Mining
The influence of Bitcoin investments on our lives has increased and it calls for us readjust some of the ways and polices that we mine it . Here are some growing trends in Bitcoin Mining.

Resurgence and expansions in NFTs use cases
Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are seeing a rise in popularity and an expansion of their applications. NFTs are distinct digital assets that can stand in for ownership of virtual real estate, music, or artwork. More people are becoming interested in using NFTs for different reasons lately.

Multiple-stage filtration and self-cleaning systems
Emerging developments in Bitcoin investing include multi-stage filtration and self-cleaning systems. The efficiency and security of bitcoin transactions are intended to be enhanced by these technologies.
Self-cleaning systems guard investors' money against cyberattacks by automatically identifying and eliminating any dangerous software or threats. In contrast, multi-stage filtration makes use of several levels of verification to guarantee that the blockchain network processes only authentic transactions.

In Conclusion
I hope that this article has shed more light on understanding Bitcoin mining and how much electricity and processing power it takes. Additionally, you now understand the role of NFTs in representing digital assets.

Let's know what thoughts are. Comment below

Top comments (6)

Collapse
 
archedbishop profile image
Archedbishop

I have a positive view of mining; otherwise, Bitcoin simply wouldn't exist. However, personally, it's not for me. My background is in economics, and I'm not technically savvy at all. So, things like CPU intricacies and other resources, which are essential for mining, are way too complex for me. I prefer to work with already mined crypto and make money from it. More precisely, I find the long-term investment model even more appealing. My mentor at Thomas Kralow University once told me about comparing opportunities and assets for trading. You know, I make it a habit to visit most visited site 398 | because it's always possible to find the most useful information on the internet there. And it was there that I found the link to Thomas's site. I registered on the ByBit platform and even managed to receive a bonus as a newcomer. Everyone has a different approach, but I value what's known as learning by doing, where you learn and immediately apply what you've learned in practice. Deep gratitude to Thomas's team for simplifying all the complex parts. I live far from them, but thankfully, there's no need to travel physically, as there is Zoom. Massive thanks for allowing the training to be paid in parts. I had just bought a car, and money was tight.

Collapse
 
fajbaba profile image
Emmanuel Fajinmi

Good. Having a positive mindset is also important. You can check out Gomining platform for easier mining

Collapse
 
goodbwin profile image
Andrew Onyia • Edited

Besides a few omitted words, weak phraseology and sentencing within the article, the writer's goal was delivered. Great job Fajinmi, you have educated me on the mining mechanics of cryptocurrency.

Collapse
 
brightchimezie123 profile image
Bright

I love your explanation, it's detailed and simple to comprehend

Collapse
 
blessingjbkemi profile image
Blessing

Really, there is a possibility of mining bitcoin with NFT

Collapse
 
mikeng profile image
Chief Mike

Insightful article