Fundamentals
Proof of Work (PoW)
The consensus mechanism where miners expend computational energy to find valid blocks, making blockchain history expensive to rewrite and securing th…
Mining
The process of using computational hardware to validate transactions, produce new blocks, and earn block rewards plus transaction fees on a proof-of-…
Block Reward
The new coins paid to the miner who finds a valid block — the block subsidy — plus all transaction fees included in that block.
Halving
A scheduled event that cuts a blockchain's block subsidy in half, reducing new coin issuance — Bitcoin halves every 210,000 blocks (~4 years).
Nonce
The "number used once" field in a block header that miners increment to produce different hashes while searching for one below the network target.
Coinbase Transaction
The first transaction in every block, created by the miner, which mints the block subsidy and collects the fees — unrelated to the exchange of the sa…
Confirmation
Each block mined on top of the block containing a transaction adds one confirmation, making reversal exponentially harder.
Mempool
The waiting room of unconfirmed transactions from which miners select the highest-fee transactions to include in their next block.
Transaction Fees
The amount users attach to transactions to incentivise miners to include them in a block — the second component of mining revenue after the subsidy.
Wallet
Software or hardware that manages the private keys controlling your coins — where mining pool payouts are sent.
Hardware
ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit)
A chip designed to compute one hashing algorithm as fast as physically possible — orders of magnitude more efficient than CPUs or GPUs, but useless f…
GPU Mining
Mining with graphics cards — flexible across many algorithms and with strong resale value, but uncompetitive on coins where ASICs exist.
CPU Mining
Mining with ordinary processors — obsolete on most coins, but the standard for Monero's RandomX, which is deliberately optimised for CPUs.
Efficiency (J/TH)
Energy consumed per unit of hashrate — joules per terahash for SHA-256 ASICs. The single most important specification of mining hardware.
Undervolting
Reducing a GPU's core voltage and clock to cut power draw far more than hashrate, dramatically improving mining efficiency.
Immersion Cooling
Submerging mining hardware in dielectric (non-conductive) fluid for silent operation, better heat transfer, and higher sustainable overclocks.
Mining Rig
A purpose-built machine for mining — typically an open-frame chassis holding multiple GPUs, or loosely, any dedicated mining unit.
Mining Farm
An industrial-scale mining facility — hundreds to hundreds of thousands of machines colocated where electricity is cheapest.
Colocation (Mining Hosting)
Paying a facility to house, power and maintain your mining hardware — you own the machines, they run them.
Custom Firmware
Third-party ASIC firmware (Braiins OS, LuxOS, Vnish) enabling per-chip tuning, autotuning, and efficiency gains of 10–25% over stock.
Algorithms
SHA-256
The cryptographic hash function securing Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash — the most ASIC-industrialised mining algorithm in existence.
Scrypt
The memory-hard algorithm of Litecoin and Dogecoin — chosen for ASIC resistance in 2011, fully ASIC-dominated since 2014.
Equihash
The memory-oriented proof-of-work used by Zcash — designed for ASIC resistance, conquered by ASICs in 2018.
RandomX
Monero's CPU-optimised algorithm — executes random programs in a virtual machine, making general-purpose CPUs the optimal mining hardware.
kHeavyHash
Kaspa's proof-of-work algorithm — lightweight, energy-efficient, and ASIC-mined since 2023 with the fastest hardware iteration cycle in the industry.
Etchash
Ethereum Classic's memory-hard algorithm — a recalibrated Ethash that keeps 3–4 GB GPUs viable and broke legacy ASIC compatibility.
KAWPOW
Ravencoin's ASIC-resistant algorithm — a ProgPoW variant that randomises GPU workloads to neutralise specialised hardware.
Blake3
The fast, modern hash function used by Alephium — efficient on GPUs, with first-generation ASICs emerging.
DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph)
In mining, the multi-gigabyte dataset Ethash-family algorithms force GPUs to read from — its growth retires cards whose VRAM is too small.
ASIC Resistance
Designing a mining algorithm so specialised hardware gains little advantage over consumer CPUs/GPUs — rarely successful long-term, with Monero the no…
Pools & Payouts
Mining Pool
A service that aggregates many miners' hashrate to find blocks collectively and distribute rewards proportionally — converting lottery-like income in…
Solo Mining
Mining alone for full block rewards — maximum variance: you keep 100% of any block you find, but may find none for years.
Stratum
The network protocol connecting miners to pools — the stratum+tcp:// URL you enter in every ASIC configuration.
Share
A lower-difficulty proof of work submitted to a pool to demonstrate your machine is contributing — the accounting unit of pool payouts.
FPPS (Full Pay Per Share)
A payout scheme where the pool pays a fixed rate per share for both subsidy AND transaction fees — predictable income, pool absorbs all variance.
PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares)
A payout scheme distributing actual block rewards across the last N shares submitted — lower fees, income follows pool luck.
PPS (Pay Per Share)
The original fixed-rate payout scheme: a set amount per share covering the block subsidy only — transaction fees stay with the pool.
Payout Threshold
The minimum balance a pool requires before sending your earnings on-chain — small miners should check it before committing hashrate.
Merged Mining (AuxPoW)
Mining two blockchains simultaneously with one machine's work — the Litecoin/Dogecoin pair is the canonical example, doubling revenue streams at zero…
Pool Luck
The ratio between blocks a pool actually found and statistical expectation over a period — 100% is exactly on-target, above is lucky.
Economics
Hashrate
The number of hash computations per second — of a machine, a farm, or an entire network. The fundamental unit of mining capacity.
Hashprice
Revenue per unit of hashrate per day — e.g. dollars per TH/s/day on Bitcoin. The industry's standard yardstick for mining revenue conditions.
Break-Even Electricity Rate
The electricity price at which a given machine's daily revenue exactly equals its power cost — above it you lose money on operations.
Payback Period (ROI)
The time needed for cumulative mining profit to repay the hardware purchase price — the core investment metric for miners.
Profit Switching
Automatically redirecting hashrate to whichever coin or algorithm currently pays most — built into multi-coin pools and rig management software.
Cloud Mining
Renting hashrate from a provider instead of owning hardware — historically dominated by scams and rarely profitable for the buyer.
Dual Mining
Running two algorithms on one GPU simultaneously — one memory-bound, one compute-bound — to extract more revenue from the same card.
Network & Security
Difficulty
A network-wide parameter that scales how hard it is to find a valid block, automatically adjusted to keep block times constant as hashrate changes.
Difficulty Adjustment
The protocol mechanism that recalculates difficulty at fixed intervals — Bitcoin's every-2,016-blocks rule is the original design.
Network Hashrate
The total combined hashrate of all miners on a blockchain — the denominator of your revenue share and the measure of network security.
Orphan Block (Stale Block)
A valid block that loses the race for chain inclusion because a competing block at the same height propagated first — its reward is forfeited.
51% Attack
Controlling a majority of network hashrate to censor transactions or double-spend by rewriting recent history — the canonical PoW attack.
Tail Emission
A small, fixed block reward that continues forever after the main emission ends — Monero's 0.6 XMR per block is the leading example.
Cryptojacking
Malware that secretly mines cryptocurrency (usually Monero) on victims' machines — the reason legitimate mining software triggers antivirus alerts.