Hey there!
I'm LePotato. I've been BTC as a currency for selling things for a few months and have come across a few things on different forums that I didn't really understand, so I made this post in the slight hope someone kind enough will help me. I'm not really looking to build anything soon, but I just want to get to grips with the terminology.
My First question is: What's a block? What does it do/what is it used for?
I'm guessing that's something that you mine? I really don't know.
Hi, I believe any "how bitcoin works" video on youtube can answer your questions nevertheless I can give you some guide.
Block is composed of confirmed transactions. Ever since the tx is included in the block it is considered as valid (or confirmed) and every block found later will add 1 confirmation to this tx.
Yes, blocks are miners output. Every block is linked to previous one by magic (math. formula) and when a new block is found (and distributed among the nods) all miners have to starts from scratch to find new block linked to the found one.
My Second question is: What's a hashrate? (E.g kH/s or whatever) Is there a certain hashrate to btc ratio?
I've seen hashrates on cloud mining websites and don't understand what they are.
Hashrate is unit to measure the power (frequency) .. similar to processors GHz (operations per sec) ... but GHash denotes hash_operations per sec. (hashing is what miners are doing)
more hashrate = more power = higher chance to find block
you can calculate/estimate you mining revenues from the hashrate... try some mining calculator.
Hashrate to btc ratio? ... in what sense? It's a wrong build question.
Little theory: Imagine you have a miner with hashrate equal to current total_network_hashrate. When you plug it in and start mining, you could earn half of all mined bitcoins (rest of the world would split the other half because now you would became owner of the half the total_network_hashrate).
My Final question is: Are cloud mining websites worth it? Can you earn much from them? Are there any vouched for/trusted cloud mining sites?
I really wanna invest a small amount ($20 max) into something to keep it ticking by and hopefully get a bit of profit by the end of it.
Thanks in advance!
~LePotato
Cloudmining? please DO NOT, especially not now a few weeks before halving (of the reward for miners).
I guess the best thing for you is just to buy BTC. BTW you can store them within BW interest wallet and get 0.02% daily profit ... not much better than nothing, just my TIP.