They bought a pickaxe, a handful of basic supplies, and set off into the hills with nothing but a dream of striking gold. The fever of this gold rush captured the hearts and minds of people around the world, because it represented the dream that anyone, of any means, could change their life forever with hard work and a handful of luck. There is something hardwired into the human brain around situations like this, and we are drawn to the idea of hard work creating the opportunity for life changing riches.

While there have been many types of "gold rushes" throughout the years, many have been underwhelming or have turned out to not be as egalitarian as many had hoped. However, few have captured that "wild west" feel of traditional gold rushes like the crypto mining fever of recent years. The world went from knowing nothing about crypto and Bitcoin, to learning that anyone with a powerful computer could "mine", effectively putting their processors to work 24/7, and as a result earn money as they competed with other miners. The rewards might be small, but could also be life changing, and we saw many people of modest means become very wealthy overnight. This phenomenon caught hold and changed our modern culture, allowing the world to see what a modern gold rush might look like. Further, it didn't require people to sell everything and move to some remote part of the world. They could do this from home.

So what happened to that magical sense of gold rush? Who were the winners and losers? And how has this sense of mining transitioned as crypto as an industry has matured? Let's dive into the rise and fall of traditional crypto mining, why things changed to a non-mining standard, and how an organic type of mining from platforms like Spacemesh has introduced an organic and balanced approach to mining and rewards.