"Bitcoin is generated through mining," a phrase we often hear, but "mining" itself remains both familiar and unfamiliar to many. What exactly is this process? How can we participate? This article will unveil the mystery of mining.
1. The Essence of Mining: More than Just "Bookkeeping"
● The core of mining is the "bookkeeping" process, where miners compete in computing power to solve complex mathematical problems, vying for the right to package Bitcoin transactions. The successful ones receive Bitcoin as a reward.
● In the blockchain network, there are two types of nodes: full nodes and light nodes. Most ordinary users run light nodes, which only store block header information and complete basic transfer functions. To participate in mining, one must run a full node, downloading and verifying the entire blockchain's historical data, taking on important network maintenance responsibilities such as transaction verification and block propagation.
2. The Evolution of Mining Equipment
CPU Era: A Utopia of Mining for All (2009-2010)
● In the early days of Bitcoin, the mining algorithm designed by Satoshi Nakamoto could run on a regular computer CPU. At that time, anyone with a laptop could participate in mining, making it a true "national sport."
● However, mining with general-purpose computers was not cost-effective. The hash value calculation only utilized a small portion of the CPU's instructions, leaving most computer resources idle. As Bitcoin prices rose and mining difficulty increased, the electricity costs of CPU mining quickly exceeded the rewards, making it unprofitable.
GPU Era: The Power Liberation of Graphics Cards (2010-2012)
● GPUs have thousands of small processing cores, making them particularly suitable for large-scale matrix multiplication, which is the core requirement for mining calculations. Their parallel processing capability far exceeds that of CPUs, increasing mining efficiency by several times.
● However, as general-purpose parallel processors, GPUs contain dedicated modules designed for various application scenarios, such as floating-point units for graphics rendering. This "functional redundancy" leads to energy efficiency waste during mining. As the overall network computing power grew, GPU mining profits fell far below electricity costs.
ASIC Era: The Arms Race of Professional Mining Machines (2013-Present)
● ASIC stands for "Application-Specific Integrated Circuit," specifically tailored for mining calculations of certain cryptographic algorithms. It eliminates all redundant circuits unrelated to the target algorithm, achieving extreme energy efficiency and computing speed, with performance significantly surpassing that of GPUs.
● However, this specialization brings obvious limitations. ASIC miners designed for a specific cryptocurrency typically cannot mine other coins that use different algorithms. The R&D cycle for ASIC chips takes about a year, and the economic lifespan of mining machines is very short, with most profits concentrated in the first two months after launch. Once a new generation of mining machines is released, older models are quickly phased out by the market.
3. The Rise of Mining Pools: From Solo Mining to Teamwork
As mining difficulty increases exponentially, individual miners face two major challenges: extremely unstable income, with the possibility of not mining a block for a long time; high operational costs, needing to bear the storage and bandwidth requirements of full nodes.
● Mining pools solve these problems through a collaborative mining model. Their structure includes two parts: pool owners and miners. Pool owners run full nodes, responsible for transaction collection, block assembly, and task distribution; miners only compute hash values and do not participate in other complex tasks.
Share Mechanism: The Core of Fair Distribution
● Mining pools use a clever "share" mechanism to fairly distribute rewards. Miners need to find hash values that meet specific conditions, such as requiring 70 leading zeros. The pool sets an intermediate difficulty target, such as 50 leading zeros; as long as miners compute a hash value that meets this condition, they can submit a Share.
● A Share is proof of work, demonstrating that miners are indeed continuously performing effective calculations for the pool. When any miner in the pool finds a valid block, the pool owner distributes rewards based on the proportion of Shares submitted by all miners.
Security Assurance: Dual Mechanisms to Prevent Cheating
● Miners cannot "play both sides" and pocket rewards because pool owners pre-set the receiving address for the coinbase transaction to the pool's address. Even if a miner computes a valid block, the reward will go directly to the pool's account.
● Miners also cannot maliciously discard valid blocks, as such behavior is self-defeating; only commercial spies might resort to such extreme measures.
4. The Global Hashrate Landscape: A New Pattern in 2025
According to data from the fourth quarter of 2025, the global distribution of Bitcoin hashrate shows a new trend:
● The United States continues to lead, accounting for 37.8% of the hashrate (approximately 389 EH/s)
● Russia accounts for 15.5% (approximately 160 EH/s)
● China accounts for 14.1% (approximately 145 EH/s)
● Emerging regions such as Paraguay, the UAE, and Oman are rising
● Regional dynamics show that North America maintains a leading position globally, while China's hashrate stabilizes in Asia. Paraguay in Latin America continues to rise, and Ethiopia in Africa enters the top ten for the first time, indicating a more diversified distribution of mining.
● In emerging markets, small countries like Laos, Bolivia, and Georgia show significant growth. Although the numbers are small, they indicate that miners are exploring new regions with regulatory or energy advantages.
The core conclusion shows that the global hashrate concentration remains high, with the top three countries accounting for about 68% of the global Bitcoin hashrate.
5. Competitive Landscape of Major Mining Pools
The top five Bitcoin mining pools ranked by efficiency in 2025:
Foundry USA Pool: approximately 27%, the largest Bitcoin mining pool in the world
Antpool: approximately 14%, operated by Bitmain, supporting multiple cryptocurrencies
ViaBTC: 10.9%, offering PPLNS and PPS+ payment models
F2Pool: 9.53%, one of the earliest Bitcoin mining pools globally
Luxor Mining Pool: 3.73%, a leading pool in North America
6. Key Factors in Choosing a Mining Pool
Miners need to weigh multiple factors when choosing a mining pool:
● Fee structure: Different pools charge fees ranging from 1% to 4%
● Payment schemes: PPS provides stable income, while PPLNS has both risks and rewards
● Minimum payout threshold: Affects payout frequency, particularly important for small miners
● Server location: Relates to network latency; choosing nearby options improves efficiency
● Security record: Directly impacts the safety of miners' earnings
Bitcoin mining has evolved from an early personal hobby into a professional global industry. Understanding the essence of mining, the evolution of equipment, and the industry landscape helps us better grasp this significant innovation of the digital age. As technology continues to advance, the mining industry will keep evolving, providing a solid foundation for the secure operation of blockchain networks.
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