Meet the 21 companies you've never heard of that are battling to control bitcoin
But arguably more important are the miners - individuals and organisations who form the core backbone of bitcoin, ensuring the digital currency's integrity.
Bitcoin runs on a blockchain, a decentralised and public ledger of every transaction made on the network. By offering processing power towards this, users get a chance to win bitcoin - creating an arms race of miners scrambling to assemble ever-more sophisticated and powerful equipment to "mine" new bitcoin.
Some individuals go it alone; others join open "pools" where they combine their resources to improve their odds; some larger companies also have mining efforts. While the #1 spot can change from week to week, we have ranked the biggest mining companies using data covering August 5 to August 12 from bitcoin network analysis company Blocktrail.