Sha256 is a hash algorithm short for Secure hash algorithm 256 where 256 is the number of bits based on 32 bytes (8 bits in a byte times 32 =256)
This is math important to some programmers but its very hard to hack and this hash is used by ASIC miners and the has generates a unique 256 bit code or signature for some text string.
It takes about 6 to 12 minutes to process one block and we are talking gigs or gigabyte per second or GH/S. (one billion hash computations per second)
It’s a very common algorithm used bycoins like Bitcoin MasterCoin, MazCoin and more.
(under construction Jan 2022)