---
title: ""The SHA-256 algorithm is surprisingly simple, easy enough to do by…"
date: 2017-12-18
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
---

# "The SHA-256 algorithm is surprisingly simple, easy enough to do by…

*December 18, 2017 · Facebook*

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[http://www.righto.com/2014/09/mining-bitcoin-with-pencil-and-paper.html](http://www.righto.com/2014/09/mining-bitcoin-with-pencil-and-paper.html){target="_blank"}
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\"The SHA-256 algorithm is surprisingly simple, easy enough to do by hand\...Doing one round of SHA-256 by hand took me 16 minutes, 45 seconds. At this rate, hashing a full Bitcoin block (128 rounds)\[3\] would take 1.49 days, for a hash rate of 0.67 hashes per day (although I would probably get faster with practice). In comparison, current Bitcoin mining hardware does several terahashes per second, about a quintillion times faster than my manual hashing. Needless to say, manual Bitcoin mining is not at all practical.\[5\]\"\
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[http://www.righto.com/2014/09/mining-bitcoin-with-pencil-and-paper.html](http://www.righto.com/2014/09/mining-bitcoin-with-pencil-and-paper.html){target="_blank"}
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