Cryptocurrency Mining For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019952296
ISBN: 978-1-119-57929-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-57947-2 (epdf); ISBN 978-1-119-57942-7 (epub).
Welcome to Cryptocurrency Mining For Dummies. We’re here to help you enter the wonderful world of cryptocurrency mining. Of course, you don’t need our help. You can just go to Google or some other major search engine, search, and jump right in. You’ll find plenty of information to help you!
Hah! Try it and see. It’ll be like drinking from the proverbial firehose — you’ll drown in a flood of confusing blog posts, conflicting “news” articles, unintelligible wiki articles, misleading YouTube videos… .
So that’s where we come in. Our job is to break it all down into intelligible, easy-to-digest, bite-sized pieces that ordinary folk like yourself can read and understand.
This book explains, simplifies, and demystifies the world of cryptocurrency mining. You find out what you need to know and do in order to decide if and how you’re going to begin cryptocurrency mining.
In this book, we explain
We don’t want to assume anything, but we have to believe that if you’re reading this book, you already know a few things about the Internet and cryptocurrency. We assume that you understand how to work online and work with personal computing equipment. We also assume that you know how to buy and sell cryptocurrency, how to work with exchanges and wallets, and how to keep it safe.
This alone is a complicated subject, which would take an entire book to explain. It is essential that you understand these basics; this book focuses on a more advanced subject, cryptocurrency mining, and we just don’t have room to cover these basics. We recommend you check out Peter’s 8-hour online video course, which you can find at CryptoOfCourse.com; but one way or another, it’s essential that you learn how to work with cryptocurrency safely, in a way that protects you from theft and loss.
This book, like all For Dummies books, uses icons to highlight certain paragraphs and to alert you to particularly useful information. Here’s a rundown of what those icons mean:
A Tip icon means we’re giving you an extra snippet of information that may help you on your way or provide additional insight into the concepts being discussed.
The Remember icon points out information that is worth committing to memory.
The Technical Stuff icon indicates geeky stuff that you can skip if you really want to, although you may want to read it if you’re the kind of person who likes to have the background info.
The Warning icon helps you stay out of trouble. It’s intended to grab your attention to help you avoid a pitfall that may harm your website or business.
In addition to what you’re reading right now, this product also comes with a free access-anywhere Cheat Sheet that covers a variety of useful facts, such as background information on commonly mined cryptocurrencies, coin divisibility, popular pool mining services, and so on. To get this Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Cryptocurrency Mining For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box.
For information on Peter’s Crypto Clear: Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Made Simple video course, visit www.CryptoOfCourse.com.
Occasionally, we have updates to our technology books. If this book does have technical updates, they will be posted at www.dummies.com/extras/cryptocurrencymining.
As are all good reference tools, this book is designed to be read when needed. It’s divided into several parts: cryptocurrency background and basics; mining-related foundational information; how to get started in cryptocurrency mining; the economics of mining; and the Part of Tens. We recommend that you start at the beginning and read through sequentially, but if you just want to know how to find pool mining services, read Chapter 7. If you need to understand how to calculate what equipment you would need to mine a particular cryptocurrency, read Chapter 11. If all you need is to understand the different forms of mining, Chapter 4 is for you.
However, cryptocurrency is a complex subject, and cryptocurrency mining more so. All the topics covered in this book are interrelated. We strongly recommend that you read everything in this book before you begin mining; it’s essential that you have a strong understanding of everything involved before you begin. After all, your money is at stake!
Part 1
IN THIS PART …
Reviewing cryptocurrency basics
Understanding the blockchain and hashing
Working with wallets
Using public key encryption to prove ownership
Exploring the role of the cryptocurrency miner
Creating blockchain transaction messages
Signing transaction messages
Understanding the network