Mining is a process generating new cryptocurrency tokens or coins. It bears little resemblance to the physical mining of precious metals such as gold, silver, or platinum. However, a comparison can still be made: cryptocurrency miners use computers to solve cryptographic puzzles and receive cryptocurrency as a reward for doing so.

In cryptocurrency jargon, mining is a term that refers to the process of creating a new block on certain blockchains. The first miner to solve a cryptographic puzzle, known as a hash, receives a cryptocurrency reward.

With this in mind, one of the first steps you need to take if you want to become a cryptocurrency miner is to find out which cryptocurrencies can be mined. The most popular coins that can be mined include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Monero (XMR), and Litecoin (LTC).

Mining the most profitable cryptocurrencies has become much more challenging now. The difficulty of mining most of them increases over time as the number of miners grows. As a result, the largest ones take up the majority of the network's hashing power. Hashing power is the amount of computations per second that the network can perform.

Mining some cryptocurrencies requires expensive equipment. Excessive demand for it has led to a sharp rise in prices, making it increasingly difficult to purchase. Other cryptocurrencies may be more accessible for mining, but in any case, before investing money, it's worth spending time planning what and how you will mine.