Mining
Mining is the competition in which computers solve computational puzzles to earn the right to append the next block to the Bitcoin blockchain and receive new bitcoin for it.
Explained simply
Every ten minutes exactly one participant may write the next block. A computational race decides who: computers try trillions of number combinations until one fits. Whoever hits first wins.
The winner receives newly created bitcoin plus the fees of the transactions in the block. That is how new bitcoin enter circulation, and at the same time the network is secured: anyone wanting to cheat would need more computing power than all honest miners combined.
"Mining" is a metaphor: as with gold, it takes effort to extract new units.
From the familiar world
A lottery where you do not buy tickets but generate them through computational work. More computing power, more tickets. The prize is the right to extend the ledger, plus a reward.
An example
Mining companies run data centres in places with cheap or surplus electricity, such as hydropower in Scandinavia or gas fields in Texas. Some are publicly listed.
Why it matters
Mining explains where new bitcoin come from, why the network uses electricity and why it is so hard to attack. For client questions about energy consumption this is the starting point.
To pass on
„Mining is the race to write the next page in the ledger. The effort involved is what protects the network.“
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