What is Bitcoin mining?
Bitcoin mining is how new transactions are added to the Bitcoin network and kept secure. Specialized computers called miners compete to solve a math puzzle. The first to solve it adds the next block of transactions to the shared record, the blockchain, and earns newly created bitcoin plus the transaction fees.
How it works
Transactions
People send bitcoin. Their transactions wait to be grouped into a block.
Proof of work
Miners run trillions of guesses per second to find a valid answer for the next block. This work is what makes the record very hard to change.
Reward
The winning miner adds the block, about every 10 minutes, and receives the block reward and fees.
Heat
Nearly all the electricity a miner uses turns into heat. That heat can be captured and reused for space heating, hot water, pools or greenhouses. This is the idea behind BEE.