Crypto Thoughts ... CT- #5 - Bitcoin Mining Analogy w/ Sudoku puzzle

Hey guys!!....

Today, the crypto-thought is based on "How Bitcoin mining works ?"

First of all, the mining is needed to validate the transactions occurring in the network. As, it is decentralized, so someone has to validate the transactions. So, in order to that part, mining has been introduced.

Now, we will understand Bitcoin mining using Sudoku puzzle analogy.
Given a filled Sudoku, will you be able to check if the numbers are filled correctly as per the rules?
Yesss...of course. In fact, it will be a quick process.

Now, a partially filled Sudoku is given. And asked to fill it and a reward is kept say 100 $.
Say, the puzzle is solved within 10 minutes.

Now, if I increase the grid size, it is going to take little more time than previous.

Then, some would like to solve it together, so that they get that prize money.
Likewise, people can form a large union to get that reward. And there is a chance of particular group winning every time. Hence, in order to stop this, we increase the difficulty level.

Therefore, if a Sudoku gets solved within less than 10 minutes, then the difficulty level is increased. Otherwise, the difficulty level remains same or decreased.

So, imagine the same in case of Bitcoin. The points below explains the analogy -

• The Sudoku contains the unfilled boxes. These are stored by numbers here. In Bitcoin, these are filled by the transactions.
• When the Sudoku gets solved, it is stored as a record (just as a database for referring to the matches held). Similarly, the block represents Sudoku puzzle. And the block gets stored in the blockchain (decentralised ledger).
• Just like prize money, there exists a reward in Bitcoin.
• The puzzle solvers here represents the miners who are validating the transactions by adding into the Bitcoin blocks.
• There is a time duration of Bitcoin transactions' validation i.e. 10 min.
• The work done while solving the puzzle is actually the Proof of Work (PoW) in Bitcoin.

The analogy is mentioned by Andrew Antonopoulas in this talk.....
Watch the video here. .......excerpt [10:36 to 14:36]