Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, isn’t issued by a central bank. Rather, it is created or ‘mined’ by ordinary people – or at least it was until professional mining operations emerged.

Bitcoin mining is a way to acquire valuable bitcoins without paying for them directly. However, the cost of the computer hardware, software and electricity required for mining is significant. 

Here’s a look at how to get into bitcoin mining in 2023, and whether it’s still economically viable for individuals.

The cryptocurrency market is largely unregulated in the UK, so you will have no protection if something goes wrong. Buying cryptocurrency is speculative and your capital is at risk, meaning you may lose some or all of your money.

What is bitcoin mining?

To understand bitcoin mining, you first need to understand how bitcoin works.

The principle of bitcoin is that, unlike with a traditional currency such as sterling, there’s no central bank involved in issuing it, and no traditional banks or intermediaries involved in facilitating payments and storage. 

Instead, it’s bitcoin holders themselves who control everything.

Records of bitcoin holders’ balances and payments/transfers aren’t held by a single organisation, such as a bank. Rather than a centralised ledger, anyone can hold and edit a digital copy of the records via a ‘distributed ledger’.

And why would anyone want to spend time doing that? Because in doing…