Mining plays a critical role in bitcoin (and numerous other cryptocurrencies that use "proof of work" to secure the network). Mining has become a multibillion dollar international industry, with participants ranging from plucky home miners to publicly traded companies. Like any big industry, mining faces no shortage of political and PR headaches. It's the reason crypto is regularly accused of "cooking the Earth," but also a big part of why global investors can trust a leaderless currency with an unknown creator.

In this series, CoinDesk surveys the fast-changing mining landscape, from the migration of Bitcoin's hash power out of China after last year's ban, to diverse efforts to reduce mining's environmental impact, to the benefits and controversies that mining operations bring to local communities. Our journalists and analysts around the world visited mining operations, interviewed key participants, and crunched network data to paint a rich, nuanced picture of a little-understood business.

Mining Week explores the dynamic field of cryptocurrency mining, from proposals to modify Bitcoin's software to cut energy consumption to up-and-comer projects that claim to be greener alternatives; from energy producers mining coins to make extra money and reduce waste to neighbors complaining about noise and higher electricity rates.