Much has been said about Bitcoin, Decentralization, Web3, NFTs, and all the popular buzzwords. However, one thing a lot of us still have yet to realize is the significance of cryptocurrency, ushered in by the launch of Bitcoin in 2009.
To understand this very well, let us explore how we got here in the first place.
Going down history lane, Gold was the longest-serving means of exchange and monetary system, offering the world a means to interact across diverse backgrounds, and providing a common ground for economic dealings.
It was widely adopted for its upside to prevent inflation while maintaining price and foreign exchange stability.
This Gold Standard reigned from about 500 BC till the fall of this system 5000 years later, traceable to World War I, which was largely influenced by political affiliations and international indebtedness.
Gold became valuable as money not because it was tangible but rather because of all of its combined qualities. Above all, Gold is extremely durable, fungible, and rare.
Although Gold had several advantages over previous forms of money, its inability to be transported easily and its vulnerability to centralization led to its demise, and the dollar eventually replaced it as the medium of exchange.
From a Reserve-Backed Currency to a Debt-Backed Currency
After the emergence of paper money in the 18th Century, which slowly engulfed the acceptance of the gold monetary system, the gold standard saw a total disconnection from the US Dollar as the globally acceptable currency in 1976.
This marked the beginning of the current financial system the world has been working with up till now- the fiat system.
"We have gold because we cannot trust governments."
-President Herbert Hoover
Unlike Gold, the fiat system does not have any backing aside from government orders or the military (guys with guns), and its system is proudly financed by debt.
Why all these stories? It's essential to evaluate the magnitude of the Cryptocurrency revolution, which is an upgrade on the financial system brought to us by the Gold standard.
To highlight, the dollar fiat system, which was based on the monetary characteristics of base metals rather than the features of the dollar itself, was created as a response to the inherent limits in the convertibility and transferability of Gold.
Additionally, the system's foundation at first was trust: take dollars with the understanding that they would eventually be exchanged for Gold at a certain price. Primarily, the system came about from the limitation and eventual failure of Gold as money; without Gold, the dollar would not have been created as it is today.
Bitcoin and Gold Mining
When it comes to the integrity of producing the currency, only Gold and Bitcoin have a trusted mode of production as they are either naturally endowed and mined from the earth's crust, the same as Bitcoin, which is mined in real-time and offers a transparent system to maintain a sustainable ecosystem.
Cryptography, a network of decentralized nodes imposing a shared set of consensus rules, and a strong mining network guaranteeing the integrity and immutability of Bitcoin's transaction record are the three main mechanisms that safeguard and reinforce the emergent monetary features of the cryptocurrency.
When comparing fiat and cryptocurrency, the monetary qualities that emerged and are inherent in bitcoin are in sharp contrast to the dollar system and its absence of monetary traits.
While bitcoin scarcity is absolute, dollar scarcity is relative. Bitcoin is not founded on trust; the dollar system is.
The quantity of bitcoin is controlled by a consensus of market players, as opposed to a central bank that controls the supply of dollars.
While the quantity of bitcoin is completely unrelated to the function of credit, the supply of dollars is inextricably linked to the scale of its credit system.
Furthermore, the cost of creating dollars is almost nil, but the cost of creating bitcoin is real and constantly rising.
In the end, the monetary characteristics of Bitcoin are emergent and becoming more and more unpredictable, whereas the dollar is intrinsic and becoming more and more manipulable.
Bitcoin as an Equitable Means of Participation in a Just Financial System
Despite the green flags from Gold's uniqueness, ordinary men do not have the power to mine or participate in the production of Gold.
It is strictly reserved for the government as it owns the land. This, over time, put the commonwealth of the nation in the hands of a few elites.
We argued that the fiat system is being backed by debt and enforced by the government, which made it centralized; Gold also suffered the same fate, which was responsible for its decline as a globally acceptable system.
Fortunately, in our lifetime, there emerge possible solutions to these problems - Bitcoin, being the first cryptocurrency that has been under research for the past 40 years, finally came with a seemingly equitable system to give every human a say in the financial construct of the world they live in.
From trusting the fortune of the entire humanity to a selected few, bitcoin offers a trustless system where individuals have an equal right to shape their financial future.
Not only that, bitcoin marked the transformation from a centralized system to a decentralized system, all thanks to its public ledger system -The blockchain which singlehandedly serves as the network, database, and computer where everything occurs.
Everybody can now have a say in the mining of their currency, i.e., bitcoin. There's no more fear of funny money being introduced into the economy through false printing of cash.
As the process of producing cryptocurrency is expensive and immutable - no room for double spending or counterfeiting.
Apparently, the world has now been given the golden opportunity to have a currency and an asset in one globally efficient means of exchange -Bitcoin.
It's obvious that crypto is still in its infant stage, and there have been a lot of challenges facing it, from anonymous scams and hacks to battles with traditional finance, seeing it as a threat, and other common problems.
Regardless, it's still the beam of hope of an equitable system, evident in all the processes involved in sustaining this ecosystem, from the mining, validation, block creation, issuance, and circulation of these digital assets.
The Future of Bitcoin Mining featuring NFTs and LBH
You've come this far; It won't serve this piece well if we don't talk about Bitcoin mining and what the future holds.
Note that the process of producing new bitcoins using specialized hardware and software to solve challenging mathematical equations is referred to as bitcoin mining.
It is among the most crucial components of the Bitcoin network since it guarantees the dependability and security of the entire setup.
This procedure is essentially characterized by appending transaction records to the blockchain, which is Bitcoin's public record of previous transactions.
Because it is a chain of blocks, this historical transaction log is known as the blockchain. The blockchain is used to verify transactions that have occurred to the other members of the network. This process of producing new bitcoins is where miners come in.
What does it take to mine Bitcoin?
Without mincing words, Bitcoin Mining is a labor-intensive operation that needs certain technology and software. Individual miners may find it challenging to compete as mining becomes more expensive as mining difficulty rises.
Moreover, miners may find it challenging to forecast their earnings because of the volatility of the bitcoin price. Ultimately, because mining involves the use of specialized machinery that consumes a lot of energy, the effects on the environment can be substantial.
Due to the specialized technology needed for this process, mining can also have a large negative impact on the environment as much energy as Argentina as a whole is reportedly used in Bitcoin mining.
How to Mine Bitcoin Individually without leaving the comfort of your house
The evolving nature of the crypto ecosystem has always paved the way for different innovations; one of these beautiful inventions is the Liquid Bitcoin Hashrate (LBH), a tokenized concept to give individuals access to bitcoin mining anytime, anywhere around the world.
This innovation was first introduced by a reputable crypto firm known as Gominnig, which owns bitcoin mining data centers across multiple places and uses the technology of NFT (Non-Fungible Token) to offer users unique access to mine bitcoin.
Essentially, GoMining is a bitcoin mining company that offers settlement layers and investment vehicles so that cryptocurrency investors can engage in bitcoin mining and earn profit in BTC without having to deal with the headache of managing their own mining hardware.
Through their GoMining NFT, a digital asset that represents a share of hashrate or processing power, the project is able to provide "virtual" bitcoin mining. That is, the more your part of BTC that is mined, the more processing power you possess on GoMining's servers.
This laudable project has seen notable figures likeKhabib Nurmagomedov advocate for its authenticity and easy gateway for anyone interested in Bitcoin mining.
Anyone may mine Bitcoin with NFTs using GoMining. You can play the NFT Game for free for 14 days and get daily BTC rewards if you wish to test out this novel idea. To register, you don't even require a credit card.
You will be given a trial miner that increases computing power to 1TH and energy efficiency to 35 W/TH during the trial period. Note that only new users who have never owned NFTs from The Greedy Machines are eligible for this deal.
With GoMining NFTs, you may begin the free NFT Trial and receive daily Bitcoin incentives just like you would if you had a real NFT. You also receive discounts on maintenance fees and complete access to all of the NFT Game section's solo mining mode features. The incentives are saved to your virtual balance, which is the sole distinction.
Unless you purchase an NFT, the benefits you accrue during your trial time will stay frozen. When you purchase and acquire one, you can unfreeze and move GoMining NFTs from your virtual balance to your actual Bitcoin wallet.
That's the power of decentralized finance, where everyone is given the right to contribute to the financial well-being of the universe.
With the recent SEC approval of Bitcoin Spot ETF, we hope the crypto dominance continues to gain ground, and the impressive technology that powers it continues to make our world a better place for habitation.