04-07-2013, 08:57 AM
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Confirmed User
Industry Role:
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 6,697
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sly
So nobody knows what these things are mining?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin#Bitcoin_mining
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To implement a distributed timestamp server on a peer-to-peer basis, bitcoin uses a proof-of-work system similar to Adam Back's Hashcash, rather than newspaper or Usenet posts.[2] This is often called bitcoin mining.
The mining process or proof-of-work process involves scanning for a value that when hashed with SHA-256, the hash begins with a number of zero bits. The average work required is exponential in the number of zero bits required and can be verified by executing a single hash.
For the bitcoin timestamp network, it implements the mining process or "proof-of-work" by incrementing a nonce in the record or "block" until a value is found that gives the block's hash the required zero bits. Once the hashing effort has been expended to make it satisfy the proof-of-work, the block cannot be changed without redoing the work. As later records or "blocks" are chained after it, the work to change the block would include redoing all the blocks after it.
The majority decision is represented by the longest chain, which has the greatest proof-of-work effort invested in it. If a majority of computing power is controlled by honest nodes, the honest chain will grow the fastest and outpace any competing chains. To modify a past block, an attacker would have to redo the proof-of-work of the block and all blocks after it and then catch up with and surpass the work of the honest nodes. The probability of a slower attacker catching up diminishes exponentially as subsequent blocks are added.[2]
To compensate for increasing hardware speed and varying interest in running nodes over time, the proof-of-work difficulty is determined by a moving average targeting an average number of blocks per hour. If they're generated too fast, the difficulty increases.[2]
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Quote:
Process
The steps to run the network and generate or "mine" bitcoins are as follows:[2]
New transactions are broadcast to all nodes.
Each node collects new transactions into a block.
Each node works on finding a difficult proof-of-work for its block.
When a node finds a proof-of-work, it broadcasts the block to all nodes.
Bitcoins are successfully collected or "mined" by the receiving node which found the proof-of-work.
Nodes accept the block only if all transactions in it are valid and not already spent.
Nodes express their acceptance of the block by working on creating the next block in the chain, using the hash of the accepted block as the previous hash.
Repeat.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof-of-work
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Until 2009, Finney's system was the only RPOW system to have been implemented; it never saw economically significant use. In 2009, the Bitcoin network went online. Bitcoin is a proof-of-work crypto currency that, like Finney's RPOW, is also based on the Hashcash POW. But in Bitcoin, double-spend protection is provided by a decentralized P2P protocol for tracking transfers of coins, rather than the hardware trusted computing function used by RPOW. Bitcoin has better trustworthiness because it is protected by computation; RPOW is protected by the private keys stored in the TPM hardware and manufacturers holding TPM private keys. Hackers who steal a TPM manufacturer key, or anyone capable of obtaining the key by examining the TPM chip itself, could subvert that assurance. Bitcoins are "mined" using the Hashcash proof-of-work function by individual nodes and verified by the decentralized P2P Bitcoin network. The other novel aspect of Bitcoin is that it dynamically varies the Hashcash size required to create a coin to avoid inflation due to computers getting faster, and due to more users mining.
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__________________
You don't like my posts? Put me on ignore or fuck right off. I'll say what I want.
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