4 ms·
That's not quite true. Bitcoins cost virtually nothing to create, but you are only allowed to create them if you succeed at securing a block of transactions. Al
by weavejester 15y ago
That's not quite true. Bitcoins cost virtually nothing to create, but you are only allowed to create them if you succeed at securing a block of transactions. All of the processing power used in the Bitcoin network is designed to verify the transaction chain and prevent double-spending. The bitcoins generated as a result are just a reward to compensate people for their energy and hardware costs.
- wccrawford 15y agoI recently looked into generating bitcoins, and that's not really true. Very little power goes into generating a successful bitcoin, true... But a LOT of power is wasted by failing to generate them. That's why it takes days, weeks or months (depending on processing power) to generate a successul bitcoin, on average.
- weavejester 15y agoYou're confusing solving a block with creating bitcoins. The distinction is important (in my opinion), because it determines the reason all that processing power is needed. A frequent mistake is to assume that all that processing power is used to make bitcoins hard to create. This is incorrect; the processing power is used to verify the block chain. The bitcoins created as part of each block are just a reward to make it profitable to participate in the network.
- joezydeco 15y agoYou're trying to win a lottery. With everyone racing to create a "solution" that fits the difficulty criteria there's no guarantee that you'll even win a block if you throw enough horsepower at it. A newcomer with a 900Mhz Pentium could find the correct solution on his first cycle.