What are Bitcoin Miners?

For my first post about Bitcoins, and for what I wish to be my last about the subject, we are going to be talking about what Bitcoin miners are.

For those who do not know about Bitcoin, think of it as a new currency used for what you would use currency for. The barter and allotment of goods. It's an alternative currency, not backed by any government.

Bitcoins are made through mining. That is, through running special software to solve complex mathematical problems. As there are a finite amount of Bitcoins, this can be considered as mining for gold or oil.

Bitcoin mining services use shared computer power to mine for new Bitcoins. To participate, you have to create an account and install the special software on all the computers in your control. This is where we run into malware, because a user might not be happy with the process he or she is making with the computers he or she owns. So, they start to "infect" other computer users with the software. This is done through means ranging from straight out asking a friend, to silently placing it on a computer that visits a website.

Because of this, I say that it is not a Bitcoin problem, it is a people problem. Greedy people trying to make more money do so by devious means. It's a story as old as time itself really.

Although this software is relatively harmless as far as malware goes, this sort of thing is not really welcome on your computer. Because someone else is making money off of your computing power.

Unfortunately, because this type of software is often modified to hide from the user, I cannot find a surefire way of removing this type of software from a computer, short of reinstalling the operating system. But as this way of making more money becomes more common, politics will catch up. Antivirus vendors will start to consider this type of software to be malware.

Thank You for reading. I invite readers to comment with any questions or comments.