An obstacle to large-scale bitcoin mining is finding enough cheap energy to run the huge, power-gobbling computer arrays that create and transact cryptocurrency. One mining operation in central New York came up with a novel solution that has alarmed environmentalists.
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Each major cryptocurrency has its own Wikipedia page providing an introduction to the cryptocurrency. Monitoring Wikipedia views has been seen to be a good way to track the number of new users learning about a cryptocurrency [22], and may offer different insights to the other online factors considered, being focussed primarily on less knowledgeable users.
Like all cryptocurrencies, the majors are digital assets that secure and verify transactions using computer science and complex mathematics, known as cryptography. Unlike traditional (‘fiat’) currencies, they are not currently issued or backed by a central authority such as a government. Instead, they run across a network of computers and are underpinned by blockchain technology – a permanent record of transactions that cannot be altered without the consensus of the network.