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If you want to join in the bitcoin frenzy with no simply buying the digital currency at the inflated prices, then bitcoin mining is another way to become involved. But, mining bitcoins will come with expenses -- and risks -- of its own. And the more popular bitcoins become, the more difficult it would be to mine them profitably. .

Unlike paper currency, which is printed by both governments and issued by banks, bitcoins do not arrive in any physical form. That makes a significant risk, as hackers can theoretically create bitcoins from nothing. Bitcoin mining is the way the bitcoin network retains its transactions secure.

Bitcoin transactions are secured by blockchains, which compose a public ledger of transactions. Due to how blockchain transactions are structured, they are extremely difficult to alter or compromise, even from the best hackers. But in order to secure those transactions, someone needs to dedicate computing power to verifying the activity and packaging the details in a block that goes into the bitcoin ledger.

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As a reward for doing the job to monitor and secure transactions, miners earn bitcoins for each block they effectively process. .

The bitcoin founders have set a limit of 21 million bitcoins available for mining. Once that amount is reached, miners will still have the ability to benefit from transaction fees, however they won't be granted bitcoins as a reward for their job. As of mid-January 2018, roughly 16.8 million of the 21 million bitcoins have been mined.  Assuming the bitcoin mining industry doesn't change dramatically, it seems like we won't reach on the 21 million-bitcoin limit until the year 2140. .

During the early days of bitcoin mining, miners would often download a software bundle designed to allow their computers to process bitcoin transactions in the background. Unfortunately, that's no longer sensible, because solving bitcoin transactions has become too difficult for your computer to manage.

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The bitcoin network is designed to make a certain number of new bitcoins every 10 minutes. If only a few men and women have been bitcoin mining at any given time, then the network will be generous and share bitcoins readily in order to reach the predetermined number. But now that bitcoin mining has become so prevalent, the network is now much stingier about handing out bitcoins to miners.

These days, in order to have a chance at being profitable, miners need to adopt one of two strategies: 1) purchase technical hardware (aka a bitcoin mining rig) or 2) join a cloud mining pool. .

To begin with your own mining rig, you page purchase hardware designed for mining bitcoin (or any other digital currency), set it up, and let it run 24/7 solving bitcoin transactions. Ideally, this will result in a continuous stream of payments with no needing to get involved.

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As soon as it's fairly easy to establish and utilize a bitcoin mining rig, really making money on the process is something of a challenge. Because more and more people are signing up for mine bitcoins, the mining process continues to get more difficult and will probably keep doing so for some time.

And since bitcoin mining rigs aren't cheap -- expect to pay at least $1,000 for your hardware, or several times that to get a top-quality rig -- having to replace it every year or two takes a massive bite out of any gains you earn from mining. Plus, most mining rigs consume enormous amounts of power, so you also have to subtract expense in the bitcoins you earn to determine your own profits. .

If buying and maintaining your own mining gear doesn't appeal to you, then cloud mining might be the way to go. Cloud mining companies invest in enormous mining rigs, often filling entire information centers with all the hardware, and then market subscriptions to individuals interested in dipping a toe into bitcoin mining.

The biggest challenge facing cloud mining readers is avoiding fraud. The field is rife with pseudo-companies which sell thousands of multiyear subscriptions, pay out for a couple of months, and then disappear into the sunset. If you choose to try cloud mining, do your homework in advance and confirm that the company that you're dealing with is a real cloud miner and not a strategy.

Avoid companies with anonymous domain registration (you can look up their registration info at Network Solutions), in addition to any mining company that"guarantees" gains or offers huge incentives for referring new clients; anything over a 10% referral commission is deeply suspicious, because legitimate mining pools just don't generate a large enough profit margin to pay big commissions. .