Mining

Mining is how proof-of-work networks such as Bitcoin confirm transactions and issue new coins. Miners gather pending transactions from the mempool into a candidate block and race to find a hash that meets the network's difficulty target. The first to succeed adds the block and receives the block subsidy plus the fees inside it.

Bitcoin mining is now dominated by specialized ASIC machines run in large facilities that seek cheap electricity. Most miners join mining pools, which combine hashrate and split rewards so that income arrives steadily rather than in rare jackpots.

Profitability depends on the coin's price, network difficulty, hardware efficiency and power costs. Each halving cuts the subsidy in half, which pushes less efficient operators out and has led several listed miners to rent capacity to AI and data center clients.