Cryptocurrency mining... Is it a new golden job opportunity for the world's youth?

The global mining volume of cryptocurrency reached more than $4.05 billion in 2020, and is expected to exceed $4,502 billion in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 2.7% over the next five years, according to GlobeNewsWire. In her recent report.

Cryptocurrencies have imposed themselves strongly on the global economy now, especially with the increase in their spread and circulation around the world in general and our Arab world in particular, as the volume of transactions via digital currency trading platforms amounted to about 2.5 trillion dollars last September, and it is on a continuous rise, according to what I mentioned CNBC in a recent report.

Recently, the term encrypted digital currency mining has spread, and this new and emerging sector annually attracts thousands of people around the world looking for work and quick profit, and mining farms, platforms and mines are spread in various countries, from North America to the European Union and Asia through the countries of the Middle East and our Arab world.

What is cryptocurrency mining?

Many people may think that cryptocurrency mining is a manufacturing process through which these currencies are made, but the matter is not that simple. Cryptocurrencies are completely digital currencies and do not exist in the physical world, and there are no known records of their possession in the real world, Also, its issuance is not controlled centrally like any other currency in the world such as the US dollar or the European euro, and there is no official record of who owns it or the companies that deal with it.

Instead, all cryptocurrencies are kept digitally via the “blockchain” network in their own “digital ledgers”, as mentioned by author Chetan Nayak in a report published by the Indian Express platform ( IndianExpress) recently.

The writer added that the importance of these ledgers lies in the fact that they track and record all transactions that take place on these currencies around the world, and on millions of computers powerful enough to carry out this complex process, and since this network is a decentralized network, no one can Or a company, a country, or a single entity controlling them, and these millions of computers that track these transactions are what we can call crypto mining systems or rigs.

How does cryptocurrency mining work?

To understand how cryptocurrency mining is to understand how it works, people send cryptocurrencies to each other over the network of digital currencies - such as "Bitcoin" - all the time, but unless someone keeps a record of all these transactions, no one will be able to track who paid.

The digital currency network deals with this dilemma by collecting all transactions that take place during a certain period in a list called a “block”, and the task of miners for currencies is to confirm those transactions and write them in a general ledger (transaction log) or the so-called “block chain”. or "block chain".

When a new block of transactions is created, it is added to the “blockchain,” creating a long list of all transactions that took place on the cryptocurrency network, and a constantly updated copy of the blockchain is given to each of the network members, so they know what happens.

But to get approval to add a new block to the cryptocurrency blockchain, very complex cryptographic questions must be solved, and solving these questions ensures that the process is done correctly, securely and without tampering, and here comes the role of the so-called “minors”, who use powerful computers and written software Specifically to mine for these blocks, in order to solve those mathematical equations, and thus ensure the validity of the financial transactions, and when they succeed in that they are given reward coins for them.

For more details on how to mine digital currencies, you can see the following article we have published on Al Jazeera Net.

Exploration platforms and mining farms

In theory anyone in the world can work in cryptocurrency mining, and the basic requirements are a powerful computer, special software for mining and a wallet for cryptocurrencies. Currencies, and the processing capabilities of this computer will be used to maintain the digital books that we discussed above, as mentioned by the author in his report.

Cryptocurrency mining has become a new sector that annually attracts thousands of people in the world looking for work and quick profit (Getty Images)

And let's remember here that it is better to use computers that have graphics processing units (GPU) of the highest class, and this is why mining cryptocurrency becomes more efficient and profitable on gaming computers that use this quality. Modern GPUs such as the Nvidia RTX 30 series or AMD Radeon are very popular choices for industry professionals, and this is also the reason behind the high demand for GPUs. These graphics have reached very high levels over the past few years, which has resulted in their prices increasing dramatically.

On the other hand, laptop mining is a terrible idea, this type is not designed to handle the high temperatures that can be generated when a computer is mining for an extended period of time, and this excessive heat can damage the laptop.

Hence, stable and powerful computers are best suited for mining operations due to their large capacity to handle excess heat and power, Chetan Nayak said in his report.

Users who want to earn more profits can build more powerful computers with several graphics cards added to them, these devices are then used for mining only, and can contain up to 8 GPUs linked together.

There are many "miners" who own a large group of these computers connected to each other and set up to work together at one time, and this group of computers linked to each other is called "mining farms".

High cost and more profit

Chetan Nayak confirms in his report that creating a farm or a powerful mining platform for cryptocurrency may cost a large fortune of money, in addition to the high electricity bills, as mining consumes large amounts of energy needed to operate computers for long periods, and crypto mining mainly uses processing units. The drawings are as full as possible, which leads to a reduction in the life of these units, but, despite all this, a large number of young people from around the world join this process every day because of the huge profits and profits that these miners receive.

Just as there are profits, there are risks in currency mining, and the most prominent of these risks is the volatility of cryptocurrency prices (Getty Images)

But how do miners make money?

When you “donate” your computer or a group of computers, and enter it into a system of mining a specific digital currency such as Bitcoin, for example, this system rewards you by giving you part of the coins that you have mined, as a compensation and reward for your efforts, and since the price of these coins is very high, mining is a process Very profitable, and people with powerful computers can make a lot more money than they invested in building their own digital farms and mines.

Currency Mining Risks

Just as there are profits, there are risks in currency mining, and the most prominent of these risks is the volatility of digital currency prices, which can change down or up at any moment, and the absence of a legal institution that is a reference for regulating mining operations makes it a risk or perhaps a bubble of bubbles. The many technology in which many lost their money and could not recover even a part of it.