Mining Bitcoin in Minecraft: Turning Blocks into Bitcoin (Kind of)
That’s right: Some Plebs, Soundtomb and Armadillo28, spent two years creating a redstone machine that simulates Bitcoin mining, all without cheats or mods. Just pure survival-mode dedication.
How They Pulled It Off
Mining Bitcoin in the real world means using a computer to process data through SHA-256. These guys somehow made that happen inside Minecraft with redstone mechanics. Here’s how:
- Data Input: They used a lectern to send Bitcoin block data into the machine via redstone signals.
- Processing: Redstone circuits handled the SHA-256 algorithm—basically, lots of shifting, XOR gates, and some serious Minecraft wizardry.
- Validation: The machine checked if the output met Bitcoin’s difficulty target to "mine" a block.
Efficency
Does it actually mine Bitcoin? Well, kind of. Running this thing for a year would earn you about two Zimbabwean cents (from pre-2009, no less). About 0,000000000001 Sats, lol. And the energy costs? Let’s just say they make Germany’s electricity prices look like a bargain.
But let’s be honest, this wasn’t about getting rich. The whole project was more about seeing if it could be done—and the fact that they actually pulled it off is kind of mind-blowing.