Send us Fan Mail Bitcoin Well Explains: How Bitcoin Works - Mining and Proof of Work Forget the guy in a hoodie with a digital pickaxe. Forget the villain's lair boiling the oceans. Neither image is even close to accurate. Bitcoin mining is network security. It's the mechanism by which every transaction gets written, validated, and locked in permanently - without a bank, government, or central authority telling anyone what to do. In this video we break down exactly how it works: -What miners are actually doing (spoiler: it's a blind, relentless lottery — not calculus) -Why Satoshi designed proof of work this way, and why human greed is the security model -The 51% attack — what it would actually cost, and why it makes no rational sense -Why Bitcoin's energy consumption isn't a scandal — it's the most important feature of the system Why miners are incentivized to use energy nobody else wants And why it's always more profitable to play honestly than to attack. Satoshi weaponized greed to build an impenetrable shield. It's one of the most elegant systems ever designed. Chapters: 00:00 Intro w/ Zach 02:15 The Two Wrong Images of Bitcoin Mining  03:15 What Mining Actually Is  03:42 It's Not Math — It's a Guessing Game  04:12 How the Lottery Works: SHA-256 and Hashing  05:38 Why Does Anyone Do This? The Incentives  06:44 The Coinbase Transaction — How New Bitcoin Is Born  07:47 No Pre-Mine: Why Satoshi's Fairness Matters  08:15 Can Someone Just Attack the Network?  09:23 Why a 51% Attack Makes No Rational Sense  10:47 Satoshi Weaponized Greed  11:16 "Bitcoin Is Boiling the Oceans"  11:42 Security Always Costs Energy  12:23 Bitcoin Makes the Energy Cost Visible  12:45 Unforgeable Costliness — Why the Energy Is the Point  13:25 Miners Chase Wasted Energy  14:07 Summary: How It All Fits Together  14:38 Next Up: Difficulty Adjustments and the Halving  Bitcoin #ProofOfWork #BitcoinMining #BitcoinEducation #FinancialSovereignty RESOURCES & LINKS: 🚀 Buy Bitcoin/Freedom: https://bitcoinwell.com 📧 Join the Mission (Newsletter): https://bitcoinwell.com/newsletter 📊 Take the Bitcoin Survey: https://bitcoinwell.com/survey 📈 Investor Relations: https://bitcoinwell.com/investors CONNECT WITH US: 🕊️ X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/thebitcoinwell 📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/thebitcoinwell ⚡ Nostr: npub19mf4jm44umnup4he4cdqrjk3us966qhdnc3zrlpjx93y4x95e3uq9qkfu2 (https://bitcoinwell.com/nostr)