Mining and Proof of Work

Mining is the mechanism Bitcoin uses to package transactions into blocks and secure the chain with proof-of-work. Miners are not just printing new coins; they are competing to extend the ledger under shared rules.

The process mixes economics and computation. Miners collect transaction fees plus the block subsidy, but they only earn those rewards if the rest of the network accepts the block as valid.

This competition is what gives proof-of-work its defensive cost. To rewrite history, an attacker needs enough energy and hardware to outrun the honest network for long enough to make the rewrite stick.

Mining can look abstract from the outside, but its practical role is simple: order transactions, issue new BTC on schedule, and make past blocks expensive to replace.