In today's craze for digital currencies, Bitcoin has always been the focus of much attention. As the price of Bitcoin continues to fluctuate, mining has become a controversial topic. People have speculated whether Bitcoin can still be mined, and are also curious about why Bitcoin miners spend time mining empty blocks. Let's delve into the mystery of Bitcoin mining.

The mining process of Bitcoin is to verify transactions and add them to the blockchain by solving complex mathematical problems. This process requires a lot of computing power and electricity, so mining is not easy. However, as the total amount of Bitcoin gradually approaches the upper limit of 21 million, people began to question whether Bitcoin can still be mined. In fact, the mining reward of Bitcoin is gradually reduced according to a halving law, which means that mining becomes more and more difficult over time, and eventually it will reach a limit, that is, Bitcoin can no longer be mined.

Although the total amount of Bitcoin is limited, why do miners still spend time mining empty blocks? This actually involves the operating mechanism of the Bitcoin network. In the Bitcoin network, miners compete for the right to record accounts by constantly trying to solve mathematical problems, thereby obtaining mining rewards. Sometimes, multiple miners find the correct answer almost at the same time, resulting in empty blocks. This phenomenon is not a waste, but a reflection of the network's own mechanism, and is also to ensure the security and reliability of transactions.

In addition to mining rewards, miners can also earn income through transaction fees. As the Bitcoin network becomes congested, transaction fees are gradually rising, which makes miners more willing to mine and confirm transactions. Therefore, even if the total amount of Bitcoin is limited, mining is still an attractive industry, especially in the current booming digital currency market.

Another curious question is why Bitcoin miners choose to mine empty blocks? Mining an empty block is actually a situation where no transactions are confirmed in a short period of time, which may be caused by network delays or other factors. Although mining empty blocks will not receive mining rewards, miners still choose to mine them because it helps the stability and security of the network. Mining empty blocks can help clean up the transaction pool and reduce network congestion, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire system.

In the world of Bitcoin mining, miners are not just seeking profits, they are also contributing their own strength to the operation of the entire network. Their efforts and dedication are the cornerstones for the safe and efficient operation of the Bitcoin network. Therefore, even if the total amount of Bitcoin is limited, mining is still a field full of challenges and opportunities.

In general, Bitcoin mining is a complex and exciting process involving technology, economy, society and many other aspects. Although the total amount of Bitcoin is limited, mining is still a hot topic that attracts countless people's attention. I hope that through the discussion of this article, readers can have a deeper understanding of Bitcoin mining and appreciate the mystery and value contained in it. The world of Bitcoin is full of unknowns and challenges. Let us explore the mysteries together and witness the future of digital currency together.

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Can Bitcoin still be mined? Why do Bitcoin miners spend their time mining empty blocks? Bitcoin mining is an interesting topic that can be difficult to understand at first without investigation. One particular topic about mining is empty blocks, and people often wonder why mining pools mine empty blocks.

Mining pools are collections of Bitcoin miners that come together to find and verify blocks that are generated approximately every ten minutes. Most of the time, when a miner mines a particular block, the block is filled with pending transactions. The miner is rewarded with 12.5 BTC and the transaction fee for the block. In the early days, blocks were not very full because Bitcoin was not as popular as it is now. Recently, blocks have been full and often reach the maximum block size of 1MB.

Blocks mined on the network include not only blocks filled with transactions, but also empty blocks. Empty blocks actually have a transaction, which we call a coinbase transaction, which is located in the first part of each block. The main reason why mining pools mine empty blocks is that they are constantly performing calculations. The biggest concern people have is that these miners who are dedicated to mining empty blocks are causing the transaction congestion these days.

Non-stop mining

Mining is an ongoing mining race. When miners win a race by finding a block, they are ready for the next race and start competing again almost immediately. However, when a mining pool calculates a block, it must download and perform some functions to verify the transactions contained in it. At the same time, the mining pool also receives the next broadcast block header (80 bytes of data attached to a block), and the mining pool starts working on the next block.

Not only do miners work on mining, they also count the blocks mined by competitors. Miners don't stop to rest, they hope to keep mining as many blocks as possible. It's a bit like a NASCAR driver who wins the Daytona 500 and still hopes to get a lead at the Talladega race.

Jorge Stolfi, a professor of computer science and Bitcoin enthusiast, explains simply why miners mine an empty block: "Transaction fees are meant to reward miners for including all the transactions they can in their candidate blocks," Stolfi explains. "However, a miner can start mining block N+1 without having N blocks, because he only needs to get the hash of block N and use a specific trick to get it quickly."

"In this case, the miner must start with an empty block N+1, even if there are transactions waiting to be included in his queue: because, without knowing the contents of block N, he cannot check whether these transactions are valid. If he is lucky, he may be able to calculate this block N+1 even before he finishes downloading the contents of block N. This is why there are empty blocks."

Over 87,000 empty blocks

Empty blocks have been very common since the creation of Bitcoin. For example, from the genesis block until block 360,189, 85,295 empty blocks have been mined on the blockchain. This means that from 2009 to June 2015 - about 23.68% of blocks were empty. The amount of work put into mining an empty block is no different than the amount of work put into filling a block to capacity. Since 2015, the number of empty blocks has decreased, and some mining pools have stated that they are not mining empty blocks at all. So far, the block with only 1 transaction is block 87885.

According to data from Bitfury Analytics, the Bitfury mining pool chose not to mine empty blocks.

Can Bitcoin still be mined? Why do Bitcoin miners spend time mining empty blocks? The above is the relevant introduction. The idea that miners choose to mine empty blocks is correct to some extent, but whether it is a bad thing is a different story. Since the early days, there has been a debate about blocks.