Bitcoin mining is not just about earning coins. Block structure, hash puzzles, automatic difficulty adjustment, and the Halving that occurs every four years — experience all these mechanisms firsthand with an interactive simulator.

What is Mining?

Bitcoin mining is the process of adding new blocks to the blockchain. Miners repeatedly perform billions of calculations to find a hash value that satisfies certain conditions.

SHA-256: The hash function used by Bitcoin. Even a 1-bit change in input produces a completely different output.
Difficulty Target: The hash value must be smaller than a specific number. More leading zeros means harder difficulty.
Nonce: An arbitrary number that miners adjust, changing it to search for a valid hash.

Understanding Block Structure

Each block consists of:

Block Header: Previous block hash, Merkle root, timestamp, difficulty target, Nonce
Transaction List: All transactions included in the block
Coinbase Transaction: Mining reward + fees paid to the miner

Automatic Difficulty Adjustment

Bitcoin automatically adjusts difficulty every 2,016 blocks (approximately 2 weeks). The goal is always 1 block per 10 minutes on average.

Formula: New Difficulty = Current Difficulty × (Actual Time / Target Time 20,160 min)

When hashrate rises, difficulty increases. When miners leave, difficulty drops. This self-regulating mechanism keeps the network stable.

What is Halving?

Every 210,000 blocks (approximately 4 years), the Bitcoin mining reward is cut in half. This is the Halving.

2009 Genesis Block: 50 BTC
2012 1st Halving: 25 BTC
2016 2nd Halving: 12.5 BTC
2020 3rd Halving: 6.25 BTC
2024 4th Halving: 3.125 BTC
~2140 Last Bitcoin mined (~21 million total)

Interactive Mining Simulator

Experience the actual mining process in the simulator below. You can observe finding valid hashes by changing the Nonce, the difficulty adjustment mechanism, and halving timing.

Mining Economics

Mining profitability is determined by three factors: Bitcoin price, hashrate (competition), and electricity cost. Halvings reduce supply to create long-term scarcity, but directly reduce miner revenue in the short term.

Mining Pools

To address the income instability of individual mining, miners form mining pools. They find blocks collectively with pooled hashpower and distribute rewards proportionally to contribution.

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Bitcoin Mining & Halving: Fundamentals of Blockchain