✅ Master Proof of Work Consensus
Understand mining, difficulty, hashrate, and Bitcoin's security model
Your Progress
0 / 5 completed🎓 Key Takeaways
You've completed the PoW Race module! Here's a summary of what you've learned about mining competition and Proof of Work consensus.
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Mining Mechanics
- •Mining is trial and error finding valid hashes
- •Nonce increments until target difficulty met
- •Modern ASICs try 100+ trillion hashes/sec
- •Network finds block every ~10 minutes
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Difficulty & Rewards
- •Difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks
- •Maintains ~10 minute block time
- •Rewards halve every 210,000 blocks
- •Currently 3.125 BTC per block (2024)
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Mining Pools
- •Pool mining provides regular income
- •Solo mining is lottery-like
- •Pools charge 1-3% fees
- •Reduces variance but centralizes power
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51% Attacks
- •Majority hashrate can rewrite history
- •Enables double-spending attacks
- •Extremely expensive on major chains
- •Economic incentives discourage attacks
Quick Reference
| Metric | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Block Time | ~10 minutes | Target average, maintained by difficulty |
| Difficulty Adjustment | 2,016 blocks | ~2 weeks |
| Halving Frequency | 210,000 blocks | ~4 years |
| Current Reward | 3.125 BTC | As of April 2024 halving |
| Network Hashrate | ~400 EH/s | 400 million TH/s (2024) |
| Max Supply | 21 million BTC | Reached ~year 2140 |
🧠 Knowledge Check
Question 1 of 5Score: 0/5
What is the primary goal of mining in Proof of Work?
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What's Next?
Now that you understand Proof of Work mining, explore related concepts:
- •Learn about Proof of Stake as an alternative consensus mechanism
- •Understand mining pools and their economic models
- •Study blockchain forks and chain reorganizations
- •Explore the environmental impact of PoW mining