Certified Bitcoin Professional Practice Exam

What is the role of miners in the Bitcoin network?

1. To store Bitcoin wallets.

2. To validate and confirm transactions.

3. To create new Bitcoin addresses.

4. To manage Bitcoin exchanges.

The correct answer is: To validate and confirm transactions.

Miners play a crucial role in the Bitcoin network, primarily by validating and confirming transactions. When a user initiates a Bitcoin transaction, that transaction is broadcast to the network, and it needs to be verified to prevent issues like double spending. Miners collect these unconfirmed transactions and gather them into a block. Once a block is created, miners compete to solve a complex mathematical problem known as proof of work, which requires significant computational power. The first miner to solve this problem gets to add the block to the blockchain, which is the public ledger of all Bitcoin transactions. This process of validation ensures that transactions are genuine and that the conditions of the network's protocol are followed. Once a transaction is included in a block and added to the blockchain, it is considered confirmed, providing security and trust in the system. The other choices reflect misunderstandings of the miner's role. Storing Bitcoin wallets is not a function of miners; this is typically the responsibility of users and wallet service providers. Creating new Bitcoin addresses is something users do themselves or through services, not miners. Finally, managing Bitcoin exchanges involves facilitating the trading of Bitcoin for various currencies, which is outside the scope of what miners do in the network.