Watch real proof-of-work in action with actual SHA-256 hashing and nonce discovery
⚠️ Note:
Network statistics (difficulty, hashrate) are estimates based on data from November 2024.
For current live data, visit
mempool.space or
blockchain.info.
Difficulty:Beginner Mode
What is Mining?
Bitcoin mining is like a lottery where miners try billions of random numbers (nonces) until they find one that creates a hash starting with enough zeros. The first miner to find a valid hash wins the block reward!
Proof-of-work mining uses SHA-256 hashing with difficulty targets (leading zeros). Miners increment nonces to find valid hashes. Network difficulty adjusts every 2016 blocks to maintain ~10 minute block times regardless of total hashrate.
Bitcoin implements Hashcash-style proof-of-work where miners search for SHA-256(SHA-256(block_header)) < target. Difficulty adjusts via target = previous_target × (2016 blocks ÷ actual_time). ASICs compute ~100 TH/s; network total ~400 EH/s. This simulator shows the same algorithm but at browser speeds.
⚙️ Mining Controls
Higher difficulty requires more attempts to find valid hash
Each additional zero makes finding a valid hash ~16x harder
Real Bitcoin: ~19 leading zeros (~2^76 attempts). Network adjusts every 2016 blocks.
Current Difficulty:2 zeros
Current Nonce:0
Total Attempts:0
Blocks Found:0
Success Rate:0%
Avg Attempts/Block:N/A
How it works: The miner increments the nonce and hashes the data until finding a hash that starts with the required number of zeros (proof-of-work).
Difficulty Adjustment: Each leading zero requires ~16x more attempts. Bitcoin adjusts difficulty every 2016 blocks to maintain 10-minute block times.
Real Mining: Modern ASICs achieve ~100 TH/s (100 trillion hashes/sec). At network difficulty ~400 EH/s total, probability of finding a block = your_hashrate ÷ 400,000,000 TH/s per attempt.
⛏️ Ready to Mine
Select difficulty and click Start Mining
Live Hash Attempts (Real SHA-256)
Click "Start Mining" to see real-time hash attempts with nonces
📦 Blocks Found
No blocks mined yet
Educational Note: This simulator uses real SHA-256 hashing. Each nonce is tried sequentially until a hash with the required leading zeros is found. In Bitcoin, miners use ASICs to try billions of nonces per second!
Understanding Probability: With 3 leading zeros, average attempts ≈ 16^3 = 4,096. With 4 zeros ≈ 65,536. Real Bitcoin mining requires finding hashes below a specific target (equivalent to ~19 leading zeros = ~2^76 attempts).
Mining Mathematics: Expected attempts = 256^(leading_zeros). At 3 zeros: 256^3 = 16,777,216 attempts. Bitcoin's current difficulty requires target < 0x0000000000000000000704cb000000000000000000000000000000000000000000. This simulator demonstrates the identical SHA-256(SHA-256(data)) algorithm used in real Bitcoin mining.