What is bitcoin mining?

Bitcoin mining is the process by which new bitcoins are created and transactions are added to the blockchain, a decentralized ledger of all transactions in the Bitcoin network. Mining is also a critical component of the maintenance and development of the blockchain's security.
Here's a simplified overview of how Bitcoin mining works:

1. Transaction Verification: When someone initiates a Bitcoin transaction, it is broadcast to the network. Miners gather these transactions into a block.
2. Proof of Work: To add a block to the blockchain, miners must solve a complex mathematical problem, known as the Proof of Work (PoW). This involves finding a specific value (called a nonce) that, when hashed with the rest of the block's data, produces a hash that meets certain criteria. This process is resource-intensive and requires significant computational power.
3. Adding to the Blockchain: The first miner to solve the PoW broadcasts the solution to the network. Other miners verify the solution, and if it's correct, the new block is added to the blockchain, and the miner is rewarded with newly minted bitcoins (the coinbase reward) and transaction fees from the included transactions.
4. Difficulty Adjustment: The Bitcoin network adjusts the difficulty of the PoW problem approximately every two weeks to ensure that the average time between blocks remains around 10 minutes, regardless of changes in the total computational power of the network.
5. Halving: Approximately every four years, the reward that miners receive for adding a new block to the blockchain is halved. This is known as the "halving" and is programmed into the Bitcoin protocol. The most recent halving occurred in May 2020.

Bitcoin mining is highly competitive, and miners invest in powerful hardware (like ASICs - Application-Specific Integrated Circuits) to increase their chances of solving the PoW problem and earning rewards. It's worth noting that as the total computational power of the network increases, the difficulty of the PoW problem also increases, making it harder for miners to find a solution.