What is bitcoin mining? The simple answer is that there is no simple answer. It helps if you imagine a combination of Amazon.com, the Dow-Jones and Super Mario Brothers. After that it gets tricky. The simplest understandable answer is probably this. “Miners” solve complex equations online to generate new “coins.” Coins aren’t really physically there but because it’s agreed they exist, they do exist. It’s called “cryptocurrency.” So, what’s a “bitcoin?” It’s using an electronic message as payment for something. There are more and more opportunities these days to pay for things using bitcoins. How are they “made?” (Bitcoin explanations require a lot of quotation marks). Miners gather bitcoin transactions, use special software to authenticate and string them together in very long “blocks,” which then generate their own password, which miners then try to find. It’s like trying to guess anyone’s password but much more involved. It takes billions of tries to be successful and that’s where all the electricity comes in. A confirmed block gets strung together in a block-chain that serves like a master ledger. And the successful miner has earned a brand new bitcoin. Now, is that clear?—M.B.
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