What is the bitcoin mining process?

The bitcoin mining process rewards miners with a chunk of bitcoin upon successful verification of a block. This process adapts over time. When bitcoin first launched, the reward was 50 bitcoin. In 2012, it halved to 25 bitcoin. In 2016, it halved again to 12.5 bitcoin. On May 11, 2020, the reward halved again to 6.25 bitcoin.

Why is bitcoin so difficult to mine?

For that reason, Bitcoin is designed to evaluate and adjust the difficulty of mining every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks. When there is more computing power collectively working to mine for bitcoins, the difficulty level of mining increases in order to keep block production at a stable rate.

What does it mean to be a bitcoin miner?

In other words, miners are basically "minting" currency. For example, as of Nov. 2020, there were around 18.5 million bitcoins in circulation. 1  Aside from the coins minted via the genesis block (the very first block, which was created by founder Satoshi Nakamoto), every single one of those Bitcoin came into being because of miners.

Can you make a profit mining bitcoin?

This is why buying bitcoin on an exchange can be a simpler way to make a profit. However, when done efficiently it is possible to make a more profit mining bitcoin than simply buying and ‘hodling’ (a term used to describe the act of not selling your bitcoin). One of the most important variables for miners is the price of Bitcoin itself.