A Review of Bitcoin Mining History and Future Outlook

Recently, an offline event themed around Bitcoin was held in Hong Kong. During the event, a veteran Bitcoin miner shared experiences from the early days of mining and expressed views on hot topics such as the Bitcoin second layer network and artificial intelligence.

The miner reflected on his experiences in the cryptocurrency industry over the past decade, witnessing important moments such as the transition from initial GPU Mining to the birth of ASIC miners, as well as the emergence of China's first mining pool. He stated that the launch of the Bitcoin ETF marks the formal debut of Bitcoin as a mature financial asset, heralding a bright future for blockchain technology.

When discussing the origins of institutional mining, the miner pointed out that the bear market from the end of 2014 to 2015 was a significant turning point. At that time, the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply, and the profitability of mining plummeted, forcing miners to seek lower-cost power resources, which propelled the mining industry towards scaling and professionalization.

Regarding overseas mining, this miner admitted to facing numerous challenges, including issues related to law, taxation, and operational efficiency. He believes that competition in the overseas market is also becoming increasingly fierce, with the entry of some sovereign funds further squeezing profit margins.

In terms of the Bitcoin Layer 2 network, this miner analyzed the technical challenges currently faced by the Bitcoin ecosystem, particularly the issue of limited smart contract support. He introduced a solution based on multi-party computation, aimed at improving the security and decentralization of cross-chain bridges.

Finally, the miner discussed the application prospects of artificial intelligence in the blockchain field. He predicted that in the future, there may be scenarios where AI agents directly conduct transactions and contract operations on the chain, while humans mainly focus on formulating rules and risk control. He stated that they are developing relevant products and hope to contribute to the integration of AI and blockchain.