Mining
Mining is the process of bundling transactions into a block and solving the Proof of Work puzzle to add it to the chain.
In depth
Miners run specialised hardware (ASICs) that compute trillions of hashes per second. When one finds a valid block it collects the block reward plus all the fees inside. Mining both secures the network and is the only way new bitcoin enter circulation.
Why it matters
Mining economics — hardware, electricity, reward — drive a large part of Bitcoin’s market behaviour.