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If you want to join in the bitcoin frenzy without just buying the digital currency in today's inflated prices, then bitcoin mining is another way to become involved. But, mining bitcoins will come with expenses -- and risks -- of its own. And also the more popular bitcoins become, the harder it is to mine them profitably. .

Unlike paper currency, that is printed by governments and issued by banks, bitcoins do not come in any physical form. That makes a significant hazard, as hackers can theoretically create bitcoins from nothing. Bitcoin mining is the way the bitcoin network retains its transactions secure.

Bitcoin transactions are secured by blockchains, which make up a public ledger of transactions. Because of the way blockchain transactions are structured, they are extremely difficult to change or compromise, even by the best hackers. However, in order to protect these transactions, someone needs to dedicate computing power to verifying the activity and packaging the facts in a block which goes into the bitcoin ledger.

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As a reward for doing the work to track and secure transactions, miners earn bitcoins for each block that they effectively process. .

The bitcoin founders have put a limit of 21 million bitcoins available for mining. Once that amount is reached, miners will still be able to benefit from transaction fees, but they won't be granted bitcoins as a reward for their work. As of mid-January 2018, roughly 16.8 million of those 21 million bitcoins have been mined.  Assuming that the bitcoin mining industry doesn't change radically, it looks like we won't hit the 21 million-bitcoin restrict until the year 2140. .

During the first days of bitcoin mining, miners would often download a software package designed to allow their computers to process bitcoin transactions in the background. Unfortunately, that's no longer sensible, because solving bitcoin transactions has become too hard for your computer to manage.

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The bitcoin network is designed to produce a certain number of new bitcoins each 10 minutes. If only a couple men and women are bitcoin mining at any given time, then the network will be generous and discuss bitcoins readily in order to reach the predetermined number. However, now this bitcoin mining has become so prevalent, the network is now much stingier about handing out bitcoins into miners.

These days, in order to have a chance at being rewarding, miners need to adopt one of two strategies: 1) buy specialized hardware (aka a bitcoin mining rig) or 2) join a cloud mining pool. .

To get started with your own mining rig, you buy hardware designed for mining bitcoin (or any other digital currency), set it up, and let it run 24/7 solving bitcoin transactions. Ideally, this will result in a continuous stream of payments with no needing to get involved.

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While it's fairly easy to establish and utilize a bitcoin mining rig, really making money on the process is something of a challenge. Since more and more people are signing up for mine bitcoins, the mining process continues to have more difficult and will likely keep doing this for some time.

And since bitcoin mining rigs aren't cheap -- expect to pay at least $1,000 for the hardware, or even several times that to get a top-quality rig -- having to replace it every year or two takes a massive bite out of any gains you make from mining. Plus, most mining channels consume enormous amounts of power, so you also need to subtract expense in the bitcoins you earn to determine your profits. .

When buying and maintaining your own mining gear doesn't appeal to you, then cloud mining may be the best way to go. Cloud mining companies invest in huge mining rigs, often filling entire information centers with the hardware, and then market subscriptions to individuals interested in dipping a toe into bitcoin mining.

The largest challenge facing cloud mining subscribers is avoiding fraud. The area is rife with pseudo-companies which sell thousands of multiyear subscriptions, cover for a couple of months, and then vanish into the sunset. If you decide to try out cloud mining, do your homework in advance and confirm that the company that you're dealing with is a real cloud miner i loved this and not a scheme.

Avoid companies with anonymous domain registration (you can look up their registration info at Network Solutions), in addition to any mining company that"guarantees" gains or offers huge incentives for referring new customers; anything above a 10% referral commission is profoundly suspicious, because valid mining pools simply don't generate a large enough profit margin to pay huge commissions. .