During the 2008 global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve used its power to intervene in the supply and circulation of money. A developer behind the alias “Satoshi Nakamoto” found this unreliable and then worked on the creation of a new payment network that enables a fair and transparent payment system and completely digital money. In [...]

Technically, Bitcoin is a decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users rather than a central authority. From a user’s perspective, Bitcoin may be simply a digital currency used on the Internet. Everyone can transfer bitcoin to anyone else in the world via the Bitcoin network, with each transaction being secure and recorded [...]

Blockchain is the underlying technology of Bitcoin, and Bitcoin was its very first application. All Bitcoin transactions are recorded on the blockchain. If blockchain is compared to a physical ledger book, then each block will be a page of the ledger book. When a page (block) is full of new transaction data, it is added [...]

New bitcoins are generated in a decentralized and competitive process called "mining". This process involves that individuals (also known as miners) are processing transactions and securing the network using specialized hardware and are collecting new bitcoins in exchange. Every 10 minutes, those who are the first to complete the validation of bitcoin transactions and add [...]

In the early days, anyone could mine with their computers’ CPUs. With the growing number of miners today, however, the mining difficulty increased greatly to the point where people resort to specialized mining hardware such as ASIC miners. To start mining, one needs to prepare strong mining rigs, a mining pool account, a wallet address [...]

Bitcoin mining rigs solve complex math problems to compete for the right to update the ledger. They usually contain mining chips (ASIC), heat sinks and fans. A mining chip (ASIC) is the core component in a mining rig. Rigs can get overheated during the mining process hence heat sinks and fans are installed for cooling [...]

During the mining process, miners are solving complex mathematic problems, relying on trial and error (rather than a set formula) to find the valid hash. The number of trials a miner can perform per second represents its “hashing power”, which is also known as “hashrate” (measured by hash/s). For example, S17+ models usually come with [...]

A Bitcoin address is one’s personal Bitcoin account, which is made up of 26 to 35 random alphanumerical characters. Everyone’s Bitcoin address is practically unique. On the blockchain, the transaction records of each Bitcoin address can be viewed by all people. Users can download a Bitcoin wallet or register an account with a cryptocurrency trading [...]

A Bitcoin wallet stores the information of one’s Bitcoin, such as the Bitcoin address (like bank account numbers), and the private key to the Bitcoin address (like a pin code for an ATM card). The core function of a Bitcoin wallet is to protect users’ private keys. If one loses his wallet, those bitcoins will [...]

Bitcoin wallets can be categorized into cold or hot wallets depending on how users store their private keys. Cold wallets are stored offline, using devices that are not connected to the Internet to ensure the safety of private keys, such as a private key written in a notebook. Although cold wallets prevent users from the [...]