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You're reading from  Bitcoin Essentials

Product typeBook
Published inFeb 2016
Publisher
ISBN-139781785281976
Edition1st Edition
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Author (1)
Albert Szmigielski
Albert Szmigielski
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Albert Szmigielski

Albert Szmigielski is a thinker, a computing scientist, a software engineer, and a blockchain professional. He holds a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Digital Currency. He has been involved in a number of start-ups and software projects. He believes in a decentralized, distributed nature of storing information, and hence has an interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Albert is a researcher at CryptoIQ and a mentor at the Blockchain Institute. He frequently contributes to his blog at blog.cryptoIQ.ca.
Read more about Albert Szmigielski

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Pros and cons of mining


Mining with a CPU has its advantages and disadvantages. Let's examine these in order to understand better if and when it is appropriate to use your CPUs to mine Bitcoin. As you may recall in the beginning, everyone used a CPU to mine for bitcoins. Those days are long gone, but you can still mine on your CPU.

Pros of mining

CPU mining is very useful in the process of understanding mining. We strongly believe that's where every miner should start. You do not need any specialized hardware other than your computer. In the process of setting up the software, you will learn all the little tricks that are applicable to your hardware. You will also learn how the CPU will compare to more advanced hardware, such as GPUs and ASICs.

To summarize, we encourage you to try CPU mining for the following reasons:

  • No specialized hardware required

  • Very good starting point to enter mining

  • Invaluable educational experience

  • It is fun to mine

Cons of mining

CPU mining for Bitcoin is unfortunately...

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Bitcoin Essentials
Published in: Feb 2016Publisher: ISBN-13: 9781785281976

Author (1)

author image
Albert Szmigielski

Albert Szmigielski is a thinker, a computing scientist, a software engineer, and a blockchain professional. He holds a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Digital Currency. He has been involved in a number of start-ups and software projects. He believes in a decentralized, distributed nature of storing information, and hence has an interest in Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Albert is a researcher at CryptoIQ and a mentor at the Blockchain Institute. He frequently contributes to his blog at blog.cryptoIQ.ca.
Read more about Albert Szmigielski