Whoever solves it first gets to record the next block of transactions in the Bitcoin ledger — and a small reward for their effort. That small reward is represented as the "mining" of new Bitcoins.
A blockchain is an unalterable digital ledger of transactions stored across many independent nodes (computers) in a network, most popularly used to facilitate and record cryptocurrency transactions.
Transactions are digitally signed using cryptography and sent to the entire Bitcoin network for verification. Transaction information is public and can be found on the digital ledger known as the ...