Let's say; I tell three of my friends that I have a number between 1 and 100 in my mind and I write that number on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. My friends don't have to guess the exact number, they are just expected to be the first to guess any number less than or equal to the number I thought. My friends have unlimited guessing rights.
Let's say I think of the number 19. If Friend A guesses 21, he loses because 21> 19. If Friend B guesses 16 and Friend C guesses 12; then they both have reached theoretically applicable answers because 16 <19 and 12 <19. There is no 'extra credit' to Friend B, although B's answer is closer to the target answer of 19.
Now imagine asking the question 'guess the number in my mind'. But I'm not just asking three friends and I'm not thinking of a number between 1 and 100. Instead, I ask millions of miners and think of a 64-digit hexadecimal number. Now you see how difficult it would be to guess the correct answer.
It is not enough for Bitcoin miners to just find the right hash. It is also important that he is the first to do this.
Since Bitcoin mining is mainly a matter of guesswork, it is aimed at how fast your computer can generate hashes and get the correct answer before another miner does everything. Just ten years ago, bitcoin mining was done competitively on regular desktop computers. However, over time, miners realized that graphics cards commonly used for video games were more effective and began to dominate the game. In 2013, bitcoin miners began using computers specifically designed for cryptocurrency mining, called Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), as efficiently as possible. The cost of these computers, which are highly efficient in Bitcoin mining can go from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.
Today, bitcoin mining is so competitive that it can only be done profitably with the most up-to-date ASICs. When using legacy models of desktop computers, GPUs or ASICs, the cost of energy consumption exceeds the revenue generated. Even the newest model, a computer is rarely enough to compete with what miners call "mining pools".
A mining pool is a group of miners who combine their computing powers and share the bitcoin to be mined among the participants. When mining pools are compared with individual miners; Mining pools and companies represent large percentages of bitcoin's computing power.
- CandleFocus Editor
Bitcoin Mining Analogy