CPU Mining is the use of a computer's Central Processing Unit - CPU to perform POW (proof-of-work) mining for a cryptocurrency. Proof of Work cryptocurrency mining requires a processor to perform calculations called hashes. These calculations can be performed by a regular general purpose CPU of the kind you will find in any computer, by a slightly more specialized Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), or a highly specialized ASIC chip designed just for performing that type of calculation.

The relative merits of each method will depend on the hashing algorithm used by the cryptocurrency in question.

Usually, CPU mining is the least effective, ASIC mining is the most efficacious, and GPU mining is somewhere in the middle.

ASIC and GPU mining is considered to be problematic by some because of the more specialist and expensive the hardware needed for profitable mining becomes.