Bitcoin mining Rig
Bitcoin mining rigs are computers used to earn Bitcoin. This type of computer generally has a professional mining chip, and it usually works by installing a large number of graphics cards, which consumes a lot of power. The computer downloads the mining software and then runs a specific algorithm. After communicating with the remote server, the corresponding bitcoin can be obtained. This is one of the ways to obtain bitcoin.
Bitcoin mining rig features
Bitcoin mining machine is one of the ways to obtain Bitcoin. Bitcoin (Bitcoin) is a network virtual currency generated by open source P2P software. It does not rely on the issuance of a specific currency institution, and is generated through a large number of calculations of a specific algorithm. The Bitcoin economy uses a distributed database composed of many nodes in the entire P2P network to confirm and record all transaction behaviors. The decentralized nature of P2P and the algorithm itself can ensure that the value of the currency cannot be manipulated through the mass production of Bitcoin [1]. Any computer can become a mining rig, but the benefit will be relatively low, and it may not be possible to mine a bitcoin in ten years. Many companies have developed professional Bitcoin mining rigs. Such rigs equipped with special mining chips are dozens or hundreds of times faster than ordinary computers.
Bitcoin mining rig principle
The Bitcoin system consists of users (users control wallets through keys), transactions (transactions will be broadcast to the entire Bitcoin network) and miners (through competitive calculations to generate a consensus blockchain at each node. The blockchain is a distribution The public authoritative account book contains all the transactions that occur on the Bitcoin network). Bitcoin miners manage the Bitcoin network by solving the problem of a proof-of-work mechanism with a certain amount of work—confirming transactions and preventing double payments. Since the hashing operation is irreversible, it is very difficult to find the random adjustment number that matches the requirements, and it requires a constant trial and error process that can predict the total number of times. At this time, the workload proof mechanism comes into play. When a node finds a solution that matches the requirements, it can broadcast its results to the entire network. Other nodes can receive this newly solved data block and check whether it matches the rules. If other nodes find that the requirements are indeed met by calculating the hash value (the computational goal required by Bitcoin), then the data block is valid, and other nodes will accept the data block. Satoshi Nakamoto compares the production of Bitcoin by consuming CPU power and time to a gold mine consuming resources to inject gold into the economy. Bitcoin's mining and node software mainly uses peer-to-peer networks, digital signatures, and interactive proof systems to initiate zero-knowledge proof and verification transactions. Each network node broadcasts transactions to the network. After these broadcast transactions are verified by miners (computers on the network), miners can use their own work proof results to express confirmation, and the confirmed transactions will be packaged into data blocks. , The data blocks will be strung together to form a continuous chain of data blocks. Each Bitcoin node will collect all unconfirmed transactions and group them into a data block. The miner node will append a random adjustment number and calculate the SHA256 hash operation value of the previous data block. The mining node keeps trying repeatedly until the random adjustment number it finds makes the generated hash value lower than a certain target.
Mining process
Mining is a process of increasing Bitcoin's money supply. Mining also protects the security of the Bitcoin system, prevents fraudulent transactions, and avoids "double payment". "Double payment" refers to spending the same bitcoin multiple times. Miners provide algorithms for the Bitcoin network in exchange for the opportunity to obtain Bitcoin rewards. The miners verify each new transaction and record them in the general ledger. Every 10 minutes, a new block will be "mined". Each block contains all the transactions that occurred during the period from the creation of the previous block to the present, and these transactions are sequentially added to the blockchain middle. We refer to the transactions included in the block and added to the blockchain as "confirmed" transactions. After the transaction is "confirmed", the new owner can spend the bitcoins he got in the transaction. Miners receive two types of rewards during the mining process: new currency rewards for creating new blocks, and transaction fees for transactions contained in the blocks. In order to get these rewards, miners are vying to complete a mathematical puzzle based on cryptographic hashing algorithms, that is, using Bitcoin mining rigs to calculate hashing algorithms. This requires strong computing power, how many calculations are needed, and the results of the calculations are good. Bad as the proof of the calculation workload of the miners, it is called "proof of work". The competition mechanism of the algorithm and the mechanism by which the winner has the right to record transactions on the blockchain, both of which guarantee the security of Bitcoin. Miners also receive transaction fees. Each transaction may include a transaction fee, which is the difference between the input and output of each transaction record. Miners who successfully "dig out" a new block during the mining process can get all the transaction "tips" contained in the block. As mining rewards decrease and the number of transactions contained in each block increases, the proportion of transaction fees in miners' income will gradually increase. After 2140, all miners’ income will consist of transaction fees. Mining is a process of decentralization of settlement, and each settlement verifies and settles the transactions processed. Mining protects the security of the Bitcoin system and realizes that the entire Bitcoin network can reach a consensus without a central organization. The invention of mining makes Bitcoin very special. This decentralized security mechanism is the basis of peer-to-peer electronic money. Rewards and transaction fees for minting new coins are an incentive mechanism that can regulate the behavior of miners and network security, and at the same time complete the currency issuance of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin earnings
The issuance of Bitcoin and the completion of transactions are achieved through mining, which is minted at a definite but continuously slowing rate. Each new block is accompanied by a certain number of new bitcoins from scratch, which are rewarded as coinbase transactions to miners who find the block. The reward for each block is not fixed. For every 210,000 blocks mined, it takes about 4 years and the currency issuance rate is reduced by 50%. In the first four years of Bitcoin's operation, 50 new Bitcoins were created in each block. Each block creates 12.5 new bitcoins. In addition to block rewards, miners will also get the handling fees for all transactions in the block.
Risks of mining Rigs
Electricity bill problem
The "mining" of the graphics card requires a long time to fully load the graphics card, the power consumption will be quite high, and the electricity bill will be higher and higher. Many professional mines at home and abroad are located in areas where electricity costs are extremely low, such as hydropower stations, and more users can only mine at home or in ordinary mines, so electricity costs are naturally not cheap. There was even a case where someone in a community in Yunnan carried out crazy mining, which caused a large-scale trip of the community and the transformer was burned out.
Hardware expenditure
Mining is actually a competition of performance and equipment. Some mining Rigs are composed of more such graphics card arrays. When dozens or even hundreds of graphics cards come together, various costs such as hardware prices are inherently high. There are considerable expenditures. In addition to graphics card-burning machines, some ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) professional mining rigs are also on the battlefield. ASICs are specially designed for hash calculations and their computing power is also quite strong, and because their power consumption is much lower than that of graphics cards, Therefore, it is easier to scale up, and electricity costs are lower. It is difficult for a single sheet to compete with these mining rigs, but at the same time, the cost of such machines is also greater.
Currency security
Bitcoin withdrawal requires up to hundreds of keys, and most people will record this long string of numbers on the computer, but frequent problems such as damage to the hard disk will cause the key to be permanently lost, which also leads to The loss of Bitcoin.
System risk
System risk is very common in Bitcoin, and the most common one is fork. The fork will cause the price of the coin to fall, and the mining revenue will drop sharply. However, many situations have shown that the fork will benefit the miners. The forked altcoins also need the mining power of the miners to complete the process of minting and trading. In order to win more miners, the altcoins will provide more block rewards and rewards. Handling fees to attract miners. Instead, risk has made miners.
Types of Mining Rigs
ASIC miner
ASIC mining rig refers to the mining rig that uses ASIC chip as the core computing part. ASIC chip is a kind of chip specially designed for a certain purpose. It must be explained that it is not only used for mining, but also has a wider range of applications. The characteristics of this chip are simple and efficient. For example, Bitcoin uses the SHA256 algorithm, then the Bitcoin ASIC mining rig chip is designed to only calculate SHA256, so in terms of mining, the performance of the ASIC mining rig chip exceeds the current top-level Computer CPU. Because ASIC mining Rigs have an absolute advantage in computing power, computers and graphics card mining rigs have gradually been eliminated.
GPU miner
GPU mining rig, the simple explanation is the digital currency mining rig mining through the graphics card (GPU). After Bitcoin, some other digital assets have appeared one after another, such as Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin, etc., some of which use algorithms that are different from Bitcoin. In order to achieve higher mining efficiency, miners After doing different tests, I finally found that the SHA256 algorithm uses ASIC to mine the most efficient digital currency. The GPU graphics card is the most efficient for mining digital currencies such as Scrypt and other algorithms, so a dedicated GPU mining rig was born.
IPFS miner
IPFS is similar to http and is a file transfer protocol. In order for IPFS to operate, there are many computers (storage devices) in the network as nodes. Broadly speaking, all participating computers can be called IPFS miners. In order to attract more users to become nodes and contribute to the network, the IPFS network has designed a cryptocurrency called filecoin, which is distributed to participants (nodes) as rewards based on the amount of storage space and bandwidth contributed. In a narrow sense, a computer designed specifically to obtain filecoin rewards is called an IPFS miner. Since the IPFS network requires storage space and network bandwidth, in order to obtain the highest profit ratio, IPFS mining Rigs usually strengthen storage space and reduce the power consumption of the whole machine. For example, equipped with more than 10 large-capacity hard drives, equipped with a gigabit or higher speed network card, using ultra-low-power architecture processors, and so on.
FPGA miner
FPGA mining rig is a mining rig that uses FPGA chips as the core of computing power. FPGA mining rig is one of the early mining Rigs. It first appeared at the end of 2011. It was once optimistic at the time, but the active period was not long, and it was gradually replaced by ASIC mining rigs and GPU mining rigs. FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), the Chinese name is Field-Programmable Gate Array. A more popular understanding is that FPGA is a large number of logic devices (such as AND gates, NOT gates, OR gates, selectors) encapsulated in a box, how to connect the logic components in the box, all by the user (programming) To decide. If the mining program is written in the FPGA, then the FPGA mining rig is built, and because the FPGA is highly flexible, it can not only support Bitcoin's SHA256 algorithm, but also support the Scrypt algorithm that GPU miners are good at. During the active period of FPGA mining rigs, compared to the CPU and GPU mining rigs of the same generation, although FPGA is not superior in computing power, its power consumption is much lower and the overall power consumption ratio is very high.
