HashrateTimesBitcoin, mining & self-custody
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Get to know the system
behind your bitcoin.

Explore 14 guides on Bitcoin, mining and self-custody. Follow a question from first principles to a worked example, check the sources and put an explanation to work in a calculator.

Field note paths: Bitcoin and fees, mining and energy, wallets and privacy

Bitcoin & fees

Understand a transaction, a block and the units in your wallet.

Example Bitcoin network fee of 1,763 satoshis

Bitcoin fees: pay for block space

Why sat/vB and virtual bytes matter, how a simple fee estimate is formed, and where the estimate stops.

4 min read
Illustration of a Bitcoin reward reduction event

Bitcoin halving: the schedule and the uncertainty

See what a Bitcoin halving changes, work through a miner revenue example, and separate the subsidy schedule from price predictions.

5 min read
Illustration of blockchain hashing techniques

Bitcoin hashing: one-way work in context

Understand SHA-256, block headers and Merkle trees, then use a concrete hashrate and power example to interpret a mining specification.

5 min read
Illustration of solving a cryptographic puzzle

Proof of work, explained without the slogan

Follow a Bitcoin block from candidate to confirmation, with a simple target example and clear limits on security, energy and mining rewards.

5 min read
One bitcoin equals 100 million satoshis

Satoshis and bitcoin units

How BTC and sats relate, why tiny amounts are rounded, and how to avoid confusing a unit with a token.

4 min read

Mining & energy

Follow the work from hardware and hashing to the power bill.

Illustration of the basic Bitcoin mining process

Bitcoin mining for beginners

A plain-language map of hashes, blocks, difficulty, rewards, pools, and the costs a mining scenario must expose.

5 min read
Daily example: $7.47 revenue minus $0.15 pool fee and $10.26 electricity leaves a $2.94 loss

Bitcoin mining profitability: follow the costs

Understand Bitcoin mining profitability with a worked daily example, electricity break-even and price sensitivity. Test the assumptions in our calculator.

6 min read
Three electricity tariffs applied to a 100-watt Kaspa mining example, with a daily power threshold of 3.46 gross KAS.

Kaspa mining profitability

Check Kaspa mining profitability with a 100 W device case, electricity thresholds and f2pool payout rules. Separate pool credit from money received.

6 min read
Illustration of energy use in crypto mining

Mining energy cost: find the power threshold

Convert a machine's wall draw into daily energy cost and see why uptime belongs in the same calculation.

5 min read
Illustration of essential crypto mining hardware

Mining hardware: hashrate, efficiency, and setup costs

A checklist for reading mining hardware specifications before putting them into a profitability model.

5 min read
Illustration of miners collaborating in a mining pool

Mining pools: smoother payments, shared work

Why pools exist, what a pool fee buys you, and which payment details deserve a close read.

5 min read

Wallets & privacy

Understand key protection, recovery and what a payment reveals about you.

Illustration of a secure cryptocurrency storage device

Hardware wallets: what the device changes

Understand hardware-wallet signing, address checks and recovery, with practical trade-offs to assess before relying on a device.

5 min read
Illustration of protecting cryptocurrency private keys

Private keys: the boundary you must protect

Distinguish keys, recovery phrases and PINs, then plan for backup loss, phishing and recovery without exposing spending authority.

5 min read
Public and shielded transaction visibility

Zcash vs Bitcoin: what financial privacy changes

Compare public Bitcoin payments with shielded Zcash, understand wallet support, and check what a payment can still reveal.

5 min read

HashrateTimes editorial · Updated