The 2-Minute Rule for X11 Cryptocurrency
Instead, they went with Solution 2. The resulting currency, known as bitcoin cash, increased the blocksize to 8 Mb in order to accelerate the verification process to permit a performance of around 2 million transactions per day. At the time of writing, Bitcoin Cash is valued at $545.00 to Bitcoins $6,328.11.
When you hear bitcoin mining, you envisage coins being dug from the ground. However, bitcoin isnt physical, so why do we call it mining
Because its similar to gold mining in that the bitcoins exist in the protocols design (like the gold is underground), but they havent been introduced into the mild yet (just as the golden hasnt yet been dug up). The bitcoin protocol stipulates that 21 million bitcoins will exist at some point.
They get to perform this as a reward for creating blocks of validated transactions and including them in the blockchain.
Backtracking a little, lets discuss nodes. A node is a powerful computer that runs the bitcoin software and assists keep bitcoin running by participating in the relay of information. Anyone can run a node, you just download the bitcoin applications (totally free ) and leave a certain port open (the drawback is that it consumes energy and storage space the network at time of writing takes up about 145GB).
One node will send information to a few nodes which it knows, who will relay the information to nodes they know, etc.. This way it ends up getting around the whole network pretty fast. .
Some nodes are mining nodes (usually referred to as miners). These group outstanding transactions into cubes and add them into the blockchain. How do they do this By solving a complex mathematical puzzle that's part of the bitcoin app, and including the answer in the block. The puzzle that needs solving is to find a number that, when combined with all the information in the block and passed through a hash function, creates a result that's within a certain range.
How can they find this number By guessing at random. The hash function which makes it impossible to forecast what the output will be. So, miners guess the mystery number and use the hash function to the combination of that guessed number and also the information in the cube. The resulting hash has to begin with a pre-established number of zeroes.
Whats more, there might be several nonces that make the desired result, or there may be none (in which case the miners keep trying, but using a different block configuration). .
The first miner to acquire a resulting hash within the desirable range announces its victory to the remainder of the network. The rest of the miners immediately stop work on that block and begin trying to find out the puzzle number for the next one. As a reward for the own work, the victorious miner has some new bitcoin. .
At the time of writing, the reward is 12.5 bitcoins, which at time of writing is worth almost $200,000.
Additionally, the expenses of being a mining node are considerable, not only due to the effective hardware needed (if you have a faster processor than your opponents, you've got a better chance of finding the right number before they perform ), but also due to the large amounts of electricity that running these processors consumes. .
And, the number of all bitcoins given as a reward for solving the puzzle will decrease. Its 12.5 now, but it halves every four years or so (the next one is expected in 2020-21). The worth of bitcoin relative to cost of power and hardware could extend up over the next few decades to partially compensate this reduction, but its not certain. .
The problem of the calculation (the required number of zeroes at the beginning of the hash string) is adjusted frequently, so that it check that requires on average approximately 10 minutes to process a block.
Why 10 minutes that's the amount of time the bitcoin developers think is necessary for a continuous and diminishing flow of new coins until the maximum number of 21 million is reached (expected some time in 2140).