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I understand that "mining" for bitcoins requires your computer to do work that you don't monitor, so my question is, how do you know what it is that your computer is doing? Has anyone verified what it is your computer is actually doing while it mines for bitcoins?

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    possible duplicate: What are bitcoin miners really solving?
    – Murch ♦
    Sep 17, 2014 at 12:02
  • Definite duplicate. This question gets asked about once a month because it's apparently very hard to grasp that the purpose of mining is very literally to waste time doing hard work with no real over-arching purpose. "Miners waste resources so that attackers will have to waste more" seems to be a tough point, for some reason. Closing as duplicate.
    – David Perry
    Sep 17, 2014 at 18:55

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Yes, it is verified. If you wouldn't do the work requested by the proof-of-work then you wouldn't be able to obtain the block reward. Therefore the fact that you're rewarded by the system means you're doing the work. If you're a programmer you can also read the code of the program you're using to mine, and verify for yourself that it's actually doing the proof-of-work.

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  • No I meant what is the work? What is it my computer is doing, and has anyone verified what the work is that is called "mining."
    – JCN3
    Sep 17, 2014 at 10:40
  • The algorithm of Bitcoin's "work" is described here: en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_work - And yes it has been verified by the developers of Bitcoin themselves.
    – Luca Matteis
    Sep 17, 2014 at 10:42
  • So no third party, or unbiased agency has verified that my computer is doing what they say and nothing else?
    – JCN3
    Sep 17, 2014 at 10:43
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    The entire world has verified that it's doing what it says it's doing. That's the power of open-source software.
    – Luca Matteis
    Sep 17, 2014 at 10:45
  • I guess my issue is I don't know what it is doing. They talk about creating blocks, and proof of work, but what is the work? Is it churning through bitcoins own pointless algorithm, is it doing problem solving, or computation work for third parties? What is "the work?"
    – JCN3
    Sep 17, 2014 at 10:50

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