STEEM CRYPTO ACADEMY WEEK 4: HOMEWORK POST FOR @besticofinder – INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOCURRENCY MINING

Thank you so much professor @besticofinder for the lectures. Here is my homework post for this week.
How Crypto currency mining works.
Crypto currency mining is the process of releasing cryptocurrencies into a network by completing a given set of mathematical computations.
It works by keeping cryptocurrencies active by enabling their transaction. That is, when a cryptocurrency user submits a transaction request, it will need to be validated,and the person who validates it (miner), gets some cryptocurrency as reward. This is the process of cryptocurrency mining.
Miners perform the verification role by solving some cryptographic equations to verify the unconfirmed block, and the first to get it right creates a new block and gets rewarded for it.

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Mining difficulty.
This is the parameter or indication on how difficult it is to drive ND the right hash for each block. For cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the number of nodes that participate in the peer-to-peer network increases creating room for competition. These miners compete with themselves for a limited reward. With more competitors, the hashpower of the network increases creating a mining difficulty.
The challenges for Crypto currency miners.
Cryptocurrency mining, just like all other mining, works has its own challenges. These challenges are being encountered by the cryptocurrency miners frequently. Here are the major challenges.
A - Competitiveness in Crypto mining: Over the years, mining of crypto currency has evolved into a very competitive business and one of its effect is the adoption of a machine known a Application-specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) for crypto currency mining instead of personal computers.
Having it in mind that there is a lot of competition in the crypto mining business and that each crypto currency has its own 'block time', many crypto miners now adopt the ASIC machine so as to go faster, leaving other miners who are using personal computers disadvantaged.
B - High Energy cost: To maximize successful mining chances, you'd need to combine hundreds of ASICs together to solve one problem. Consequently, this will require extremely high power output, which will cost you exorbitantly high electricity fees.
This is one of the major challenges that every crypto miner who wants to go faster by using ASICs will definitely face, especially in countries where the cost of electricity is very high.
A report from CBS NEWS once revealed that Crypto currency mining consumes more power than 150 countries. This proofs that electricity is one of the basic requirements for crypto currency mining, but in some countries, power supply is still very epileptic.
C - Vulnerability to Cryptojacking: Despite the fact that one of the purpose of decentralization is to provide security, hackers are getting more sophisticated in tapping your resources.
This is a very challenging situation for cryptocurrency miners as they still witness some cyber security threats and sometimes, get their crypto wallet hacked by some cyber thieves.
Power concentration is not only susceptible to malware attacks, cyber thieves are now adopting a ransomware-like tactic to remotely mine cryptocurrency from people's computers.
D - Challenges of Centralization: Centralization on its own has a lot of challenges ranging from how some cryptocurrency miners influence how a coin-specific ASIC is being developed to the difficulty in doing without it once it is released.
ASICs have proven adept at solely mining a specific Cryptocurrency, but they are so powerful that once it is released, it now becomes challenging to mine without one and this affects people who can't afford it immediately.
Centralization has also been perceived as a problem because many cryptocurrency miners influence the way and manner the ASICs are being developed. And since there are only few ASIC manufacturers, the mining space will eventually be centralized.

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Thank you for your time! Cheers!!