Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By : Albert Szmigielski
Book Image

Bitcoin Essentials

By: Albert Szmigielski

Overview of this book

Blockchain is being billed as the technology of the future. Bitcoin is the first application of that technology. Mining is what makes it all possible. Exploring mining from a practical perspective will help you make informed decisions about your mining setup. Understanding what the future may hold for blockchains, and therefore for mining, will help you position yourself to take advantage of the impending changes. This practical guide starts with an introduction to Bitcoin wallets, as well as mining hardware and software. You will move on to learn about different mining techniques using the CPU, GPU, FPGA, and ultimately the ASIC as an example. After this, you will gain an insight into solo mining and pool mining, and see the differences between the two. The book will then walk you through large-scale mining and the challenges faced during such operations. Finally, you will take a look into the future to see a world where blockchain-based applications are commonplace and mining is ubiquitous.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Bitcoin Essentials
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Chapter 1. Bitcoin Wallets and Mining Software

In this chapter, we will take a look at the various Bitcoin wallets available, explore the mining software that is currently available, review the functions that Bitcoin wallets perform, and why we need them. We will take a brief look at both software and hardware wallets. The difference between full wallets and thin client wallets will also be explored. We will also touch upon hosted wallets and look into wallet security.

Next, we will take a brief look at mining software and examine why the software is needed and what it does. Finally, we will quickly review what mining software is available to us and which software we should use. Keep in mind that the material presented in this chapter will be brief and serve only as a review of the basics:

  • Bitcoin wallets

  • Types of wallets

  • Wallet security

  • Mining software