The monster machines mining Bitcoins in cyberspace that could make techies a small fortune (but cost $160,000 a day to power)

The competitive world of Bitcoin collecting has spawned a wave of supercomputers techies hope will make them a small fortune - even if they cost tens of thousands of dollars to power.



Specially developed Bitcoin 'mining' computers are either homemade or can be purchased from one of the growing number of online stores dedicated to cashing in on the supply side of the cult currency trend.



There are 21 million Bitcoins hidden across an internet-based network, which are expected to all be found by 2040. To unearth them computers have to solve the complex processor-intensive equations which hold them.

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Plugged in: Developers are building their own computers that are purely focused on unlocking Bitcoins hidden online

Money-making: The machines are able to crack the code to unlock Bitcoins - 21million of which are available online

Currency: This is a physical manifestation of a Bitcoin. A Bitcoin is really a piece of computer code which can't be stolen or forged

The more powerful the machine the better it is at solving the riddle.



So unsurprisingly canny computer-makers are developing high-powered souped-up computers so they can so they can do it repeatedly and rapidly and collect the most coins.

Allowed to work for hours on end, the mining machines can unlock many of the potentially lucrative coins - essentially computer codes - which are then used as currency online making their collectors potentially very rich.



A recent 24-hour period of work yielded Bitcoin miners around the globe $681,000 in profit.



What is a Bitcoin?

It's a piece of data locked in an internet-based network by a complex equation computers can break.

Once released it can be traded and used like money online and can be purchased with real cash.

Many websites are now taking Bitcoins as a form of currency. As well as digital currency, Bitcoin miners enjoy the competitive nature of unlocking the coins.

Famous fans include the Winklevoss twins who own around 1 percent of Bitcoins - currently worth around $11million

It has been dismissed by some as a Ponzi Scheme and touted by others as the future of money. It is not centrally controlled and it's unique and complex set up means the market cannot be altered or hacked, according to the developers



There are 21 million coins predicted to last until 2140 and their finite nature means they perform more like a commodity, such as gold.



The coins first emerged in 2008 and launched as a network in 2009.



They were introduced by an obscure hacker whose identity is a mystery but is known as Satoshi Nakamoto, which is thought to be a pseudonym

Users choose a virtual wallet from one of the various providers which enables them to receive, give and trade coins from other users



Bitcoins can be bought from specialist currency exchanges and online marketplaces such as eBay

And Bitcoin mining is being seen as so lucrative the digital drills themselves are selling for a small fortune.



The best machine on the market, according to Gizmodo , is the Avalon ASIC which at $6,800 isn't cheap given its only function is plucking bits of code from the ether.



'Money cannot buy a better Bitcoin mining machine,' Gizmodo writes.



'It was designed and built front to back with Bitcoin mining and Bitcoin mining alone in mind. It cannot do anything else, but it cannot be beat at what it does. It's the beginning of the end of revolutions in Bitcoin mining. It is the endgame of an arms race.'



The Bitcoin network, set up by a mysterious programmer under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, is also designed to get more complex the more miners there are looking for Bitcoins - opening the potential for ever-developing mining machines.



And engineers enjoy the competitive building side as much as the money - showing off pictures of their room-sized rigs on Bitcoin chat rooms like Bitcointalk.org.



With all the recent fanfare around the currency - led by the Winklevoss twins revelations they own 1 per cent of Bitcoins - currently worth $11 million - some have overlooked the controversy surrounding the machines high use of energy.



Writer Mark Gimein described Bitcoin mining as 'an environmental disaster' in a blog post for Bloomberg.



'Real-world mining of precious metals for currency was a resource-hungry and value-destroying process. Bitcoin mining is too,' he wrote.



However, Tim Worstall, a fellow at the Adam Smith Institute, disagrees saying the amount of energy used isn't notable enough to be a problem.



'There are around 120 million or so households in the US. Therefore Bitcoin mining is consuming 0.025% of the US household electricity supply,' he wrote.



'Do also note that that is the power consumed by global Bitcoin mining... I feel secure in stating that Bitcoin mining really isn't a real-world environmental disaster.'

Home-grown: People who develop their own Bitcoin drills tend to post pictures of them online in Bitcoin chat-rooms



Drilling: The computers answer the codes containing Bitcoins

Tailor-made: This Butterfly Labs BitForce Mini Rig SC, is one of various specially designed computers purely for Bitcoin mining

Bitcoins are not backed by silver or gold but can be exchanged for goods and services just like traditional currency