Coin World News Report:
Solo Performance
Bitcoin
Miners seem to have had a good year, despite the increasing difficulty of minting digital currencies.
On Thursday, an individual miner managed to process a block on the largest cryptocurrency network, earning a total of 3.329 bitcoins as a reward, worth $222,438.
Blockchain data reveals that the block included 3,285 transactions and was processed at 4:18 a.m. Eastern Time.
Bitcoin mining is the energy-intensive process of processing blocks on the cryptocurrency network. Blocks are filled with transaction data and are part of the Bitcoin blockchain, which is an almost impenetrable ledger and one of the most secure computing networks on Earth.
When a block is processed, miners receive newly minted coins: a fixed reward of 3.125 BTC, as well as transaction fees paid by people using the network during a specific block window.
In the past, almost anyone could participate in the mining process and mint new coins at home. However, as the network has evolved, mining difficulty has increased significantly. Now, mining operations are typically carried out by large companies in warehouses that consume a significant amount of electricity.
Bitcoin mining became even more challenging in April when the network experienced its once-every-four-years halving event: an embedded event in the network’s code that reduces miner rewards.
Mining operations now have to work harder and earn fewer bitcoins. Before the halving event in April, miners received 6.25 bitcoins per block they processed. Prior to that, the reward was 12.5 bitcoins, and before that, it was 25 BTC. When the Bitcoin blockchain was first launched in 2009, mining subsidies were set at 50 bitcoins.
While miners receive fewer bitcoins every four years, they are able to sustain their operations and stay in the game because the value of cryptocurrencies has flourished since the network’s inception. Since the first halving event in 2012, the price of Bitcoin has increased by 548,604%, currently standing at around $67,650.
However, solo miners do exist, and occasionally—though rarely—they may be fortunate enough to process a block on their own.
So far this year, solo miners have had their individual matches in April, July, August, and September on Thursdays.
Editor
Andrew Hayward
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