Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By : Albert Szmigielski
Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By: Albert Szmigielski

Overview of this book

Blockchain is being billed as the technology of the future. Bitcoin is the first application of that technology. Mining is what makes it all possible. Exploring mining from a practical perspective will help you make informed decisions about your mining setup. Understanding what the future may hold for blockchains, and therefore for mining, will help you position yourself to take advantage of the impending changes. This practical guide starts with an introduction to Bitcoin wallets, as well as mining hardware and software. You will move on to learn about different mining techniques using the CPU, GPU, FPGA, and ultimately the ASIC as an example. After this, you will gain an insight into solo mining and pool mining, and see the differences between the two. The book will then walk you through large-scale mining and the challenges faced during such operations. Finally, you will take a look into the future to see a world where blockchain-based applications are commonplace and mining is ubiquitous.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Bitcoin Essentials
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Pros and cons of mining


Mining with a CPU has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's examine these in order to understand better if and when it is appropriate to use your CPUs to mine Bitcoin. As you may recall in the beginning, everyone used a CPU to mine for bitcoins. Those days are long gone, but you can still mine on your CPU.

Pros of mining

CPU mining is very useful in the process of understanding mining. We strongly believe that's where every miner should start. You do not need any specialized hardware other than your computer. In the process of setting up the software, you will learn all the little tricks that are applicable to your hardware. You will also learn how the CPU will compare to more advanced hardware, such as GPUs and ASICs.

To summarize, we encourage you to try CPU mining for the following reasons:

  • No specialized hardware required

  • Very good starting point to enter mining

  • Invaluable educational experience

  • It is fun to mine

Cons of mining

CPU mining for Bitcoin is unfortunately...