Before you start mining Bitcoin, it’s useful to understand what Bitcoin mining really means. Bitcoin mining is legal and is accomplished by running SHA256 double round hash verification processes in order to validate Bitcoin transactions and provide the requisite security for the public ledger of the Bitcoin network. The speed at which you mine Bitcoins is measured in hashes per second.

The Bitcoin network compensates Bitcoin miners for their effort by releasing bitcoin to those who contribute the needed computational power. This comes in the form of both newly issued bitcoins and from the transaction fees included in the transactions validated when mining bitcoins. The more computing power you contribute then the greater your share of the reward.

Step 1 - Get The Best Bitcoin Mining Hardware

Purchasing Bitcoins - In some cases, you may need to purchase mining hardware with bitcoins. Today, you can purchase most hardware on www.asicminerstore.com. You also may want to check the ifory.en.alibaba.com.

How To Start Bitcoin Mining

To begin mining bitcoins, you’ll need to acquire bitcoin mining hardware. In the early days of bitcoin, it was possible to mine with your computer CPU or high speed video processor card. Today that’s no longer possible. Custom Bitcoin ASIC chips offer performance up to 100x the capability of older systems have come to dominate the Bitcoin mining industry.

Bitcoin mining with anything less will consume more in electricity than you are likely to earn. It’s essential to mine bitcoins with the best bitcoin mining hardware built specifically for that purpose. Several companies such as Avalon offer excellent systems built specifically for bitcoin mining.

Bitcoin Mining Hardware Comparison

Currently, based on (1) price per hash and (2) electrical efficiency the best Bitcoin miner options are:

Step 2 - Download Free Bitcoin Mining Software

Once you’ve received your bitcoin mining hardware, you’ll need to download a special program used for Bitcoin mining. There are many programs out there that can be used for Bitcoin mining, but the two most popular are CGminer and BFGminer which are command line programs.

If you prefer the ease of use that comes with a GUI, you might want to try EasyMiner which is a click and go windows/Linux/Android program.

You may want to learn more detailed information on the best bitcoin mining software.

Step 3 - Join a Bitcoin Mining Pool

Once you’re ready to mine bitcoins then we recommend joining a Bitcoin mining pool. Bitcoin mining pools are groups of Bitcoin miners working together to solve a block and share in its rewards. Without a Bitcoin mining pool, you might mine bitcoins for over a year and never earn any bitcoins. It’s far more convenient to share the work and split the reward with a much larger group of Bitcoin miners. Here are some options:

For a fully decentralized pool, we highly recommend p2pool.

The following pools are believed to be currently fully validating blocks with Bitcoin Core 0.9.5 or later (0.10.2 or later recommended due to DoS vulnerabilities):

• BitMinter
• CK Pool
• Eligius
• Slush Pool
• Antpool
• Fishpool

Step 4 - Set Up A Bitcoin Wallet

The next step to mining bitcoins is to set up a Bitcoin wallet or use your existing Bitcoin wallet to receive the Bitcoins you mine. Copay is a great Bitcoin wallet and functions on many different operating systems. Bitcoin hardware wallets are also available.

Bitcoins are sent to your Bitcoin wallet by using a unique address that only belongs to you. The most important step in setting up your Bitcoin wallet is securing it from potential threats by enabling two-factor authentication or keeping it on an offline computer that doesn’t have access to the Internet. Wallets can be obtained by downloading a software client to your computer.

For help in choosing a Bitcoin wallet then you can get started here.

You will also need to be able to buy and sell your Bitcoins. For this we recommend:

• SpectroCoin - European exchange with same-day SEPA and can buy with credit cards
• Kraken - The largest European exchange with same-day SEPA
• Buying Bitcoin Guide - Get help finding a Bitcoin exchange in your country.
• Local Bitcoins - This fantastic service allows you to search for people in your community willing to sell bitcoins to you directly. But be careful!
• Coinbase is a good place to start when buying bitcoins. We strongly recommend you do not keep any bitcoins in their service.