Overview

Mining is how Proof-of-Work networks add blocks: miners compete to find a hash below a target by varying a nonce, and the winner proposes the next block in exchange for the block reward plus fees. The economics, hardware, and geography of mining have changed dramatically since 2009 — it’s now an industrial business, not a hobbyist one. Proof-of-Stake networks replace this race with collateral: validators are picked to propose blocks and can be slashed for misbehavior.