https://minionsbtc.info/ From celebrities who invest in bitcoin, to a highly-engaged bitcoin community on Twitter, TikTok and Reddit, social media feeds into bitcoin's popularity. Mining is the term used to describe the process of creating cryptocurrency. Transactions made with cryptocurrency need to be validated, and mining performs the validation and creates new cryptocurrency. Mining uses specialized hardware and software to add transactions to the blockchain. As Bitcoin educator, developer, and entrepreneur Jimmy Song explains, Bitcoin is "decentralized, digital, and scarce money." Here are the other key characteristics of bitcoin: And why it matters This scarcity stands in stark contrast to traditional fiat currencies, which are inflationary and can be produced in unlimited quantities by central banks. This scarcity is further augmented by the process of Bitcoin halving, a crucial part of the mining process which occurs approximately every four years and reduces the rate at which new bitcoins are created and released into circulation, effectively enhancing its scarcity.