It’s been 4 years already and it seems I haven’t done nothing at all… With the little time I could spare to work on this blog, I hope I bought a tiny seed of knowledge into your 🧠zz my dear readers 😁🙂😉😋
I will try the best of my abilities to continue the work on the blog !
Untill then dear readers never forget :
Let’s find the courage and strenght, if not for us then for Them… the Future Generations that are to come after us and Go…
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
20 Rules for Security in bitcoin Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the hopes that they … Continue reading 20 Security Rules for bitcoin→
Happy Genesis Block Day! January 3 is the 14th anniversary of Bitcoin’s Block Zero, its anchor in time.
The first sentence of the email has become iconic among the Bitcoin community:
“I’ve been working on a new electronic cash system that’s fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.”
On January 3, 2009, the genesis block of the Bitcoin blockchain was mined by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, marking the first time in history that a completely digital and decentralized currency went online.
In the 14 years and three halvings since, Bitcoin has grown to become one of the most important financial instruments, clearly demonstrating that a non-central bank-controlled currency is capable of challenging the established monetary order.
That time, in 2009, was one of economic turmoil—and the aftershocks from that turmoil are still rocking our world in 2023.
The Genesis Block was never “mined” like every other Bitcoin block. That started with Block #1 when Satoshi Nakamoto released the software on SourceForge.
The hash from Block #0 was done with different software and hard-coded into the original Bitcoin protocol.
“Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” was the Times headline. Satoshi hid in the first block’s coinbase hash as a timestamp to prove there had been no mining on the Bitcoin network before he released the software to the public.
The Times – January 3 2009
“The Chancellor will decide within weeks whether to pump billions more into the economy,” the original article in the Times said. In 2009 these seemed like desperate measures, and they were. Since 2009, though, governments across the Western world have indeed pumped billions, even trillions more, into their economies.
Satoshi was making a statement on irresponsible government interventions in the economy and their eventual erosion on markets.
“They actively sought to incentivise bad behaviour and push in typical Keynesian style the problem down the road. It would be a bigger problem, but it would be someone else’s problem.”
Just like the economy at large, Bitcoin is a long-term struggle against the worse aspects of human nature.
In the 14 years and three halvings since, Bitcoin has grown to become one of the most important financial instruments, clearly demonstrating that a non-central bank-controlled currency is capable of challenging the established monetary order.
10 most important Bitcoin Milestones
Bitcoin has reached numerous major milestones and faced several considerable obstacles over its nearly decade-and-a-half-long history.
Here are 10 events that had the biggest impact on Bitcoin so far:
November 28, 2012: First Bitcoin halving
February 28, 2014: Mt. Gox, the biggest Bitcoin exchange at the time, files for bankruptcy
July 9, 2016: Second Bitcoin halving
August 1, 2017: Bitcoin Cash hard fork
May 11, 2020: Third Bitcoin halving
February 8, 2021: Tesla invests in Bitcoin
February 20, 2021: Bitcoin reaches $1 trillion market cap for the first time
September 7, 2021: El Salvador makes Bitcoin legal tender
November 14, 2021 – Taproot upgrade is activated
November 11, 2022: Major crypto exchange FTX files for bankruptcy
Bitcoin has never closed in the red zone 2 years in a row: Will the trend continue?
Bitcoin price decreased by over -60% over the span of the last 12 months. However, there is a strong bullish precedent in play that could spell a major trend reversal in the coming months.
For starters, Bitcoin has never closed in the negative two years in a row. Granted, there is a relatively short set of historical price data to work with.
However, roughly speaking, Bitcoin has operated on 3 years of growth followed by 1 year of market retracement periods, at least so far
Bitcoin Change Year-over-Year
For world-renowned charities such as Save the Children, the White aper and the subsequent creation of Bitcoin have benefited the organization.
Antonia Roupell, Web3 lead at Save the Children, told Cointelegraph that the organization recognizes “Bitcoin’s potential to be a force for good and a force for financial inclusion,” adding:
“On Bitcoin’s 14th anniversary, and at a time of increasingly global financial inequality, the phrase ‘bitcoin is for anyone’ really resonates.”
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
20 Rules for Security in bitcoin Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the hopes that they … Continue reading 20 Security Rules for bitcoin→
If you are new to cryptocurrencies, you might find the topic a bit confusing due to the terminology involved. Just refer to this page when you see an unfamiliar word or phrase.
A
ADDRESS – a cryptocurrency address is a string, containing numbers and letters, from which you can send and receive crypto payments.
ALGORITHM – kit of rules, which are solving a problem via calculations, using a computer. It’s encrypting and transferring data, which makes it mining’s base when it comes to extracting cryptocurrencies.
ASIC – (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) a dedicated mining device, which is able to extract coins, working with on one particular algorithm.
ASIC-RESISTANCE – memory hard algorithms that are hardly cooperating with ASICs, because they are built to be resistance to this kind of devices.
ATTACK 51% – a miner possess 51% of the pool’s hash rate, so he’s able to manipulate the network.
B
BANDWIDTH – the maximum capacity of the network to transmit data.
BLOCK – a piece of the blockchain, containing transactions.
BLOCKCHAIN – a public ledger, which contains lots of data, encrypted in separate block in the form of hashes (messages). Considered immutable and unable to manipulate.
BLOCK HEADER – a string long 80 bytes, which miners hash with the nonce to find the solution of the block.
BLOCK REWARD – this is what a miner gets for successfully calculating a valid hash in the block when performing a mining process.
BLOCK SIZE – this is a limit of bytes that the block might contain (also limits of transactions in one piece).
BLOCK TIME – the average time needed to find a block’s solutions. It’s different for each coin.
BLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION – the time requested for the blockchain to sync with your device (for full nodes usually).
C
CENTRALIZATION – an organization or system, which is controlled by a central authority.
CLOUD MINING – performing a mining process via rented hashing power from a third-party provider.
COIN – a term used to describe units of blockchain value.
CONFIRMATION – the process of validating if a transaction is including on the blockchain.
CONSENSUS – a rule all participant agrees on when operating on the same network.
CONTRIBUTION SHARE – the hash rate a miner puts into the pool to contribute.
CPU – (Central Processing Unit) a processor, which coordinates the work of all the other part of a computer.
D
DAO (Decentralized Anonymous Organization) – organization running smart contracts.
DIFFICULTY – a measure of how difficult might be to mine a new block.
DIFFICULTY BOMB – malicious attack, increasing difficulty that much, that the reward doesn’t cover the expenses to mine.
DISTRIBUTION – percentage of each pool from all the ones available in the network for this coin.
DOUBLE SPENDING – general issue of the decentralized conception or spending a same amount twice.
DOWNTIME – a period when a machine isn’t working.
E
EXCHANGE – a platform to buy, trade and sell cryptocurrencies.
F
FIAT MONEY – national currency of a central government.
FORK – changing in the rules of the consensus, which might be able to exist with the old established rules (soft fork) or not (hard fork).
FPGA – a modern mining device, improving the ASIC, which can mine coins from one particular algorithm. The interesting here is that you can modify it to mine a different algorithm if you decide to change the coin you mine.
FULL NODE – storing the blockchain data locally on your PC.
G
GAINS – increasing profits (reward).
GENESIS BLOCK – the first block, computationally created in the blockchain. It contains the initial transaction.
GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) – a graphic card, also known as a video card (part of a computer), which is successfully used for mining purposes.
H
HASH FUNCTION – encrypted message with fixes size and unique value.
HASH RATE – a unit to measure the computational power by which a miner contributes in the mining process.
HASH RENTAL – a rented computing power for mining purposes by a cloud mining provider.
HARD FORK – this is a protocol change, which results in splitting into two different chains and the longer one continuous existing. If both of them do – we have a chain split. These changes cannot cooperate with the old rules and require an update.
HARD DISK SPACE – the storage a user needs to locally store the blockchain data on a desktop PC.
Halving – decreasing the reward of gained coins per block using a particular formula.
I
ICO (Initial Coin Offering) – crowdfunding via crypto coins for the purpose of gaining capital for a particular project.
IMMUTABLE – unable to change in time.
K
KYC (Know Your Customer) – an identification process for the users in the network.
L
LEDGER – a piece of record of data, which is immutable.
LIGHT CLIENT – not storing the entire blockchain data but using just parts of it (a block’s header). To have some more information, they trust a full node.
LIGHTNING NETWORK – an additional layer of the blockchain to perform faster transactions between the nodes participating in the network.
LIQUIDITY – the ease to buying and selling, without bothering the market’s price.
M
MARKET CAPITALIZATION – a cryptocurrency’s price, according the total supply.
MARKET SHARE – the hash share of the market with which the pool operates.
MINEABLE – a coin which can be mined in return of reward.
MINER – either the device or the person who’s performing the mining process.
MINER’s FEE – this is the reward a miner receives for its contribution to the network by validating transactions. Normally, miners choose transactions with higher fees to add in the next block to profit more and faster.
MINING – a process of extracting a cryptocurrency by adding and verifying transactions to the blockchain, respectively gaining a reward for it.
MINING POOL – group of miners, combining their power to find a block faster and sharing the reward from it too.
MINING RIG – this is a set of multiple mining hardware, combined to mine with higher hash rate and find a block faster.
N
NODE – a computer that keeps a copy of the blockchain.
NONCE – an arbitrary number in a cryptographic communication. It is generated during the hashing process and can be used only once.
O
ORPHAN BLOCK – a valid block, which isn’t part of the blockchain and occurs when two miners find the same block in the same time. The one which is late becomes orphan.
P
PAYOUT LIMIT – the minimum amount of coins which you can withdraw from your account.
POOL DISTRIBUTION – a percentage of each pool, possessed for this particular coin.
POOL FEES – the fees requested from the pool for maintenance.
POW (Proof-of-Work) – when it comes to mining this is a consensus mechanism where miners are using a nonce to search the block’s solutions and get rewarded proportionally of their contribution (work). There’s no need of trust, since everybody’s “work” (share) is visible in the network.
PPS – (Pay Per Share) a type of rewarding system, based on contribution.
PPLNS – (Pay Per Last N Shares) a type of rewarding system, based on time a contribution.
PRIVATE KEY – this is the “password” which helps you to access your public address. It’s the one and only, which let you read the hashes (messages) sent to your public key.
PROP – (Proportional) a type of rewarding system, based on a proportional relation between contribution and luck.
PUBLIC KEY – this is a recipient’s address to receive any crypto assets in the form of a hash, which might be read with only one specific private key.
Q
QR-CODE – a graphic sign, which can be scanned via smartphone camera to read a wallet’s public address and send some coins within it.
R
REWARDING SYSTEM – a method of rewarding the miners, depending on their contribution to the network.
REPOSITORY – a software where you keep all your information, which might be retrieved at some point.
S
STALE SHARE – when two miners send a share to the network to affirm, they found a block, the one which is late is a stale one.
SPV (Simple Payment Verification) – a client which checks on transactions, using only the headers of the blocks, which is considered a proof of inclusion.
T
TRAFFIC (incoming & outcoming) – the traffic from one point to another (movement of data and actions). It’s important when it’s up to cryptocurrencies because it can define your speed when broadcasting a transaction.
TRANSACTION FEE – a payment to broadcast your transaction on the network.
U
UPTIME – the time during which a mining machine is properly working.
UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) – a value, calculating the balance of unspent coins, based on all the previously spent outputs and inputs, based on the public ledger’s history of transactions.
V
VALID BLOCK – there’s a signal that the block is mined and the user’s waiting for confirmation from other nodes to gain the reward.
VARDIFF (Variable Difficulty) – the share’s difficulty might rise or fall, depending on the hash rate.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) – a PC with static IP, supporting the network.
W
WALLET – a digital wallet to store, send and receive crypto assets.
WORKER – either a mining device, either an account in the mining pool configuration.
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
20 Rules for Security in bitcoin Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the hopes that they … Continue reading 20 Security Rules for bitcoin→
“A fixed money supply, or a supply altered only in accord with objective and calculable criteria, is a necessary condition to a meaningful just price of money.”
Fr. Bernard W. Dempsey, S.J. (1903-1960)
In a centralized economy, currency is issued by a central bank at a rate that is supposed to match the growth of the amount of goods that are exchanged so that these goods can be traded with stable prices. The monetary base is controlled by a central bank. In the United States, the Fed increases the monetary base by issuing currency, increasing the amount banks have on reserve or by a process called Quantitative Easing.
In a fully decentralized monetary system, there is no central authority that regulates the monetary base. Instead, currency is created by the nodes of a peer-to-peer network.
The Bitcoin generation algorithm defines, in advance, how currency will be created and at what rate. Any currency that is generated by a malicious user that does not follow the rules will be rejected by the network and thus is worthless.
Currency with Finite Supply
Block reward halvingControlled supply
Bitcoins are created each time a user discovers a new block. The rate of block creation is adjusted every 2016 blocks to aim for a constant two week adjustment period (equivalent to 6 per hour.)
The number of bitcoins generated per block is set to decrease geometrically, with a 50% reduction every 210,000 blocks, or approximately four years. The result is that the number of bitcoins in existence will not exceed slightly less than 21 million.
Speculated justifications for the unintuitive value “21 million” are that it matches a 4-year reward halving schedule; or the ultimate total number of Satoshis that will be mined is close to the maximum capacity of a 64-bit floating point number. Satoshi has never really justified or explained many of these constants.
Cumulated bitcoin supply
This decreasing-supply algorithm was chosen because it approximates the rate at which commodities like gold are mined. Users who use their computers to perform calculations to try and discover a block are thus called Miners.
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
20 Rules for Security in bitcoin Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the hopes that they … Continue reading 20 Security Rules for bitcoin→
The supply of Bitcoin is fixed at 21 million BTC, and as a hard coded monetary policy of the protocol, the fixed supply of the dominant cryptocurrency cannot be altered.
Former Google Product Director Steve Lee stated that only 1 percent of the world’s population can own more than 0.28 BTC, due to the fixed supply of Bitcoin.
If you own 0.28 BTC and HODL, you can be certain no more than 1% of the current world's population can EVER own more BTC than you. A modest investment of $1,830 today can ensure you are a 1%er in a future Bitcoin world. https://t.co/9k3XZa09Yo
In late 2017, Chainalysis, a blockchain forensics company that monitors and investigates cryptocurrency transactions, revealed in a research paper that up to four million BTC are permanently lost on the blockchain as a result of theft, loss of wallets and private keys, and the dormant wallet of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, which experts have said is no longer accessible.
Kim Grauer, Senior Economist at Chainalysis, said at the time, that the lost supply of BTC is not taken into consideration by the market cap.That means, the real price of BTC could be substantially higher, as 4 to 6 million BTC are estimated to be lost.
Based on the estimate that the supply of Bitcoin is around 17 million, only 0.8 percent of the world population can own more than 0.28 BTC and less than 0.2 of the world population can own more than 1 BTC.
The 0.28 BTC figure introduced by Lee assumes the supply of Bitcoin to be 21 million, as it divides 21 million by 0.28 and divides the outcome of that by the world population that is 7.442 billion. If the research of Chainalysis is accurate and that 4 to 6 million BTC are lost on the blockchain, the supply of Bitcoin should be closer to around 16 to 17 million
The fact that any investor in the global market can be within the 1 percent of the world population with a $1,830 investment demonstrates that the cryptocurrency market is still at its early phase, and in terms of adoption, market development, infrastructure, and regulation, the sector can still grow significantly in the mid to long-term.
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
20 Rules for Security in bitcoin Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the hopes that they … Continue reading 20 Security Rules for bitcoin→
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Buckminster Fuller
Strenght in NumbersDare to knowBitcoin / bitcoin / blockchainDYOR – Do Your Own Research LandArise…Bitcoin – People’s MoneyCypherPunks Write CodeBitcoin Genesis BlockCode Is LawA new day…Bitcoin – The Peaceful RevolutionVeritas Non Auctoritas Facit Legem🔵 or 🟠 The Choice is Yours…
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
20 Rules for Security in bitcoin Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the hopes that they … Continue reading 20 Security Rules for bitcoin→
This is a glossary of all cryptocurrency terms and lingo you might come across when reading about mining and mining pools. Just refer to this page when you see an unfamiliar word or phrase.
A
ADDRESS – a cryptocurrency address is a string, containing numbers and letters, from which you can send and receive crypto payments.
ALGORITHM – kit of rules, which are solving a problem via calculations, using a computer. It’s encrypting and transferring data, which makes it mining’s base when it comes to extracting cryptocurrencies.
ASIC – (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) a dedicated mining device, which is able to extract coins, working with on one particular algorithm.
ASIC-RESISTANCE – memory hard algorithms that are hardly cooperating with ASICs, because they are built to be resistance to this kind of devices.
ATTACK 51% – a miner possess 51% of the pool’s hash rate, so he’s able to manipulate the network.
B
BANDWIDTH – the maximum capacity of the network to transmit data.
BLOCK – a piece of the blockchain, containing transactions.
BLOCKCHAIN – a public ledger, which contains lots of data, encrypted in separate block in the form of hashes (messages). Considered immutable and unable to manipulate.
BLOCK HEADER – a string long 80 bytes, which miners hash with the nonce to find the solution of the block.
BLOCK REWARD – this is what a miner gets for successfully calculating a valid hash in the block when performing a mining process.
BLOCK SIZE – this is a limit of bytes that the block might contain (also limits of transactions in one piece).
BLOCK TIME – the average time needed to find a block’s solutions. It’s different for each coin.
BLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION – the time requested for the blockchain to sync with your device (for full nodes usually).
C
CENTRALIZATION – an organization or system, which is controlled by a central authority.
CLOUD MINING – performing a mining process via rented hashing power from a third-party provider.
COIN – a term used to describe units of blockchain value.
CONFIRMATION – the process of validating if a transaction is including on the blockchain.
CONSENSUS – a rule all participant agrees on when operating on the same network.
CONTRIBUTION SHARE – the hash rate a miner puts into the pool to contribute.
CPU – (Central Processing Unit) a processor, which coordinates the work of all the other part of a computer.
D
DAO (Decentralized Anonymous Organization) – organization running smart contracts.
DIFFICULTY – a measure of how difficult might be to mine a new block.
DIFFICULTY BOMB – malicious attack, increasing difficulty that much, that the reward doesn’t cover the expenses to mine.
DISTRIBUTION – percentage of each pool from all the ones available in the network for this coin.
DOUBLE SPENDING – general issue of the decentralized conception or spending a same amount twice.
DOWNTIME – a period when a machine isn’t working.
E
EXCHANGE – a platform to buy, trade and sell cryptocurrencies.
F
FIAT MONEY – national currency of a central government.
FORK – changing in the rules of the consensus, which might be able to exist with the old established rules (soft fork) or not (hard fork).
FPGA – a modern mining device, improving the ASIC, which can mine coins from one particular algorithm. The interesting here is that you can modify it to mine a different algorithm if you decide to change the coin you mine.
FULL NODE – storing the blockchain data locally on your PC.
G
GAINS – increasing profits (reward).
GENESIS BLOCK – the first block, computationally created in the blockchain. It contains the initial transaction.
GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) – a graphic card, also known as a video card (part of a computer), which is successfully used for mining purposes.
H
HASH FUNCTION – encrypted message with fixes size and unique value.
HASH RATE – a unit to measure the computational power by which a miner contributes in the mining process.
HASH RENTAL – a rented computing power for mining purposes by a cloud mining provider.
HARD FORK – this is a protocol change, which results in splitting into two different chains and the longer one continuous existing. If both of them do – we have a chain split. These changes cannot cooperate with the old rules and require an update.
HARD DISK SPACE – the storage a user needs to locally store the blockchain data on a desktop PC.
Halving – decreasing the reward of gained coins per block using a particular formula.
I
ICO (Initial Coin Offering) – crowdfunding via crypto coins for the purpose of gaining capital for a particular project.
IMMUTABLE – unable to change in time.
K
KYC (Know Your Customer) – an identification process for the users in the network.
L
LEDGER – a piece of record of data, which is immutable.
LIGHT CLIENT – not storing the entire blockchain data but using just parts of it (a block’s header). To have some more information, they trust a full node.
LIGHTNING NETWORK – an additional layer of the blockchain to perform faster transactions between the nodes participating in the network.
LIQUIDITY – the ease to buying and selling, without bothering the market’s price.
M
MARKET CAPITALIZATION – a cryptocurrency’s price, according the total supply.
MARKET SHARE – the hash share of the market with which the pool operates.
MINEABLE – a coin which can be mined in return of reward.
MINER – either the device or the person who’s performing the mining process.
MINER’s FEE – this is the reward a miner receives for its contribution to the network by validating transactions. Normally, miners choose transactions with higher fees to add in the next block to profit more and faster.
MINING – a process of extracting a cryptocurrency by adding and verifying transactions to the blockchain, respectively gaining a reward for it.
MINING POOL – group of miners, combining their power to find a block faster and sharing the reward from it too.
MINING RIG – this is a set of multiple mining hardware, combined to mine with higher hash rate and find a block faster.
N
NODE – a computer that keeps a copy of the blockchain.
NONCE – an arbitrary number in a cryptographic communication. It is generated during the hashing process and can be used only once.
O
ORPHAN BLOCK – a valid block, which isn’t part of the blockchain and occurs when two miners find the same block in the same time. The one which is late becomes orphan.
P
PAYOUT LIMIT – the minimum amount of coins which you can withdraw from your account.
POOL DISTRIBUTION – a percentage of each pool, possessed for this particular coin.
POOL FEES – the fees requested from the pool for maintenance.
POW (Proof-of-Work) – when it comes to mining this is a consensus mechanism where miners are using a nonce to search the block’s solutions and get rewarded proportionally of their contribution (work). There’s no need of trust, since everybody’s “work” (share) is visible in the network.
PPS – (Pay Per Share) a type of rewarding system, based on contribution.
PPLNS – (Pay Per Last N Shares) a type of rewarding system, based on time a contribution.
PRIVATE KEY – this is the “password” which helps you to access your public address. It’s the one and only, which let you read the hashes (messages) sent to your public key.
PROP – (Proportional) a type of rewarding system, based on a proportional relation between contribution and luck.
PUBLIC KEY – this is a recipient’s address to receive any crypto assets in the form of a hash, which might be read with only one specific private key.
Q
QR-CODE – a graphic sign, which can be scanned via smartphone camera to read a wallet’s public address and send some coins within it.
R
REWARDING SYSTEM – a method of rewarding the miners, depending on their contribution to the network.
REPOSITORY – a software where you keep all your information, which might be retrieved at some point.
S
STALE SHARE – when two miners send a share to the network to affirm, they found a block, the one which is late is a stale one.
SPV (Simple Payment Verification) – a client which checks on transactions, using only the headers of the blocks, which is considered a proof of inclusion.
T
TRAFFIC (incoming & outcoming) – the traffic from one point to another (movement of data and actions). It’s important when it’s up to cryptocurrencies because it can define your speed when broadcasting a transaction.
TRANSACTION FEE – a payment to broadcast your transaction on the network.
U
UPTIME – the time during which a mining machine is properly working.
UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) – a value, calculating the balance of unspent coins, based on all the previously spent outputs and inputs, based on the public ledger’s history of transactions.
V
VALID BLOCK – there’s a signal that the block is mined and the user’s waiting for confirmation from other nodes to gain the reward.
VARDIFF (Variable Difficulty) – the share’s difficulty might rise or fall, depending on the hash rate.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) – a PC with static IP, supporting the network.
W
WALLET – a digital wallet to store, send and receive crypto assets.
WORKER – either a mining device, either an account in the mining pool configuration.
This is a glossary of all cryptocurrency terms and lingo you might come across when reading about mining and mining pools. Just refer to this page when you see an unfamiliar word or phrase.
A
ADDRESS – a cryptocurrency address is a string, containing numbers and letters, from which you can send and receive crypto payments.
ALGORITHM – kit of rules, which are solving a problem via calculations, using a computer. It’s encrypting and transferring data, which makes it mining’s base when it comes to extracting cryptocurrencies.
ASIC – (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) a dedicated mining device, which is able to extract coins, working with on one particular algorithm.
ASIC-RESISTANCE – memory hard algorithms that are hardly cooperating with ASICs, because they are built to be resistance to this kind of devices.
ATTACK 51% – a miner possess 51% of the pool’s hash rate, so he’s able to manipulate the network.
B
BANDWIDTH – the maximum capacity of the network to transmit data.
BLOCK – a piece of the blockchain, containing transactions.
BLOCKCHAIN – a public ledger, which contains lots of data, encrypted in separate block in the form of hashes (messages). Considered immutable and unable to manipulate.
BLOCK HEADER – a string long 80 bytes, which miners hash with the nonce to find the solution of the block.
BLOCK REWARD – this is what a miner gets for successfully calculating a valid hash in the block when performing a mining process.
BLOCK SIZE – this is a limit of bytes that the block might contain (also limits of transactions in one piece).
BLOCK TIME – the average time needed to find a block’s solutions. It’s different for each coin.
BLOCK SYNCHRONIZATION – the time requested for the blockchain to sync with your device (for full nodes usually).
C
CENTRALIZATION – an organization or system, which is controlled by a central authority.
CLOUD MINING – performing a mining process via rented hashing power from a third-party provider.
COIN – a term used to describe units of blockchain value.
CONFIRMATION – the process of validating if a transaction is including on the blockchain.
CONSENSUS – a rule all participant agrees on when operating on the same network.
CONTRIBUTION SHARE – the hash rate a miner puts into the pool to contribute.
CPU – (Central Processing Unit) a processor, which coordinates the work of all the other part of a computer.
D
DAO (Decentralized Anonymous Organization) – organization running smart contracts.
DIFFICULTY – a measure of how difficult might be to mine a new block.
DIFFICULTY BOMB – malicious attack, increasing difficulty that much, that the reward doesn’t cover the expenses to mine.
DISTRIBUTION – percentage of each pool from all the ones available in the network for this coin.
DOUBLE SPENDING – general issue of the decentralized conception or spending a same amount twice.
DOWNTIME – a period when a machine isn’t working.
E
EXCHANGE – a platform to buy, trade and sell cryptocurrencies.
F
FIAT MONEY – national currency of a central government.
FORK – changing in the rules of the consensus, which might be able to exist with the old established rules (soft fork) or not (hard fork).
FPGA – a modern mining device, improving the ASIC, which can mine coins from one particular algorithm. The interesting here is that you can modify it to mine a different algorithm if you decide to change the coin you mine.
FULL NODE – storing the blockchain data locally on your PC.
G
GAINS – increasing profits (reward).
GENESIS BLOCK – the first block, computationally created in the blockchain. It contains the initial transaction.
GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) – a graphic card, also known as a video card (part of a computer), which is successfully used for mining purposes.
H
HASH FUNCTION – encrypted message with fixes size and unique value.
HASH RATE – a unit to measure the computational power by which a miner contributes in the mining process.
HASH RENTAL – a rented computing power for mining purposes by a cloud mining provider.
HARD FORK – this is a protocol change, which results in splitting into two different chains and the longer one continuous existing. If both of them do – we have a chain split. These changes cannot cooperate with the old rules and require an update.
HARD DISK SPACE – the storage a user needs to locally store the blockchain data on a desktop PC.
Halving – decreasing the reward of gained coins per block using a particular formula.
I
ICO (Initial Coin Offering) – crowdfunding via crypto coins for the purpose of gaining capital for a particular project.
IMMUTABLE – unable to change in time.
K
KYC (Know Your Customer) – an identification process for the users in the network.
L
LEDGER – a piece of record of data, which is immutable.
LIGHT CLIENT – not storing the entire blockchain data but using just parts of it (a block’s header). To have some more information, they trust a full node.
LIGHTNING NETWORK – an additional layer of the blockchain to perform faster transactions between the nodes participating in the network.
LIQUIDITY – the ease to buying and selling, without bothering the market’s price.
M
MARKET CAPITALIZATION – a cryptocurrency’s price, according the total supply.
MARKET SHARE – the hash share of the market with which the pool operates.
MINEABLE – a coin which can be mined in return of reward.
MINER – either the device or the person who’s performing the mining process.
MINER’s FEE – this is the reward a miner receives for its contribution to the network by validating transactions. Normally, miners choose transactions with higher fees to add in the next block to profit more and faster.
MINING – a process of extracting a cryptocurrency by adding and verifying transactions to the blockchain, respectively gaining a reward for it.
MINING POOL – group of miners, combining their power to find a block faster and sharing the reward from it too.
MINING RIG – this is a set of multiple mining hardware, combined to mine with higher hash rate and find a block faster.
N
NODE – a computer that keeps a copy of the blockchain.
NONCE – an arbitrary number in a cryptographic communication. It is generated during the hashing process and can be used only once.
O
ORPHAN BLOCK – a valid block, which isn’t part of the blockchain and occurs when two miners find the same block in the same time. The one which is late becomes orphan.
P
PAYOUT LIMIT – the minimum amount of coins which you can withdraw from your account.
POOL DISTRIBUTION – a percentage of each pool, possessed for this particular coin.
POOL FEES – the fees requested from the pool for maintenance.
POW (Proof-of-Work) – when it comes to mining this is a consensus mechanism where miners are using a nonce to search the block’s solutions and get rewarded proportionally of their contribution (work). There’s no need of trust, since everybody’s “work” (share) is visible in the network.
PPS – (Pay Per Share) a type of rewarding system, based on contribution.
PPLNS – (Pay Per Last N Shares) a type of rewarding system, based on time a contribution.
PRIVATE KEY – this is the “password” which helps you to access your public address. It’s the one and only, which let you read the hashes (messages) sent to your public key.
PROP – (Proportional) a type of rewarding system, based on a proportional relation between contribution and luck.
PUBLIC KEY – this is a recipient’s address to receive any crypto assets in the form of a hash, which might be read with only one specific private key.
Q
QR-CODE – a graphic sign, which can be scanned via smartphone camera to read a wallet’s public address and send some coins within it.
R
REWARDING SYSTEM – a method of rewarding the miners, depending on their contribution to the network.
REPOSITORY – a software where you keep all your information, which might be retrieved at some point.
S
STALE SHARE – when two miners send a share to the network to affirm, they found a block, the one which is late is a stale one.
SPV (Simple Payment Verification) – a client which checks on transactions, using only the headers of the blocks, which is considered a proof of inclusion.
T
TRAFFIC (incoming & outcoming) – the traffic from one point to another (movement of data and actions). It’s important when it’s up to cryptocurrencies because it can define your speed when broadcasting a transaction.
TRANSACTION FEE – a payment to broadcast your transaction on the network.
U
UPTIME – the time during which a mining machine is properly working.
UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) – a value, calculating the balance of unspent coins, based on all the previously spent outputs and inputs, based on the public ledger’s history of transactions.
V
VALID BLOCK – there’s a signal that the block is mined and the user’s waiting for confirmation from other nodes to gain the reward.
VARDIFF (Variable Difficulty) – the share’s difficulty might rise or fall, depending on the hash rate.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) – a PC with static IP, supporting the network.
W
WALLET – a digital wallet to store, send and receive crypto assets.
WORKER – either a mining device, either an account in the mining pool configuration.
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