How Bitcoin miners are paid
The network recognizes the work conducted by Bitcoin miners in the form of providing rewards for generating new blocks. There are two types of rewards: new Bitcoin created with each block, and fees paid by users to transact on the network. The block reward of newly minted Bitcoin, amounting to 6.25 BTC as of May 2020, is the majority of miners’ revenue. This value is programmed to halve at fixed intervals of approximately four years, so that eventually, no more Bitcoin is mined and only transaction fees guarantee the security of the network.
By 2040, the block reward will have reduced to less than 0.2 BTC and only 80,000 Bitcoin out of 21 million will be left up for grabs. Only after 2140 will mining effectively end as the final BTC is slowly mined.
How Bitcoin miners are paid
The network recognizes the work conducted by Bitcoin miners in the form of providing rewards for generating new blocks. There are two types of rewards: new Bitcoin created with each block, and fees paid by users to transact on the network. The block reward of newly minted Bitcoin, amounting to 6.25 BTC as of May 2020, is the majority of miners’ revenue. This value is programmed to halve at fixed intervals of approximately four years, so that eventually, no more Bitcoin is mined and only transaction fees guarantee the security of the network.
By 2040, the block reward will have reduced to less than 0.2 BTC and only 80,000 Bitcoin out of 21 million will be left up for grabs. Only after 2140 will mining effectively end as the final BTC is slowly mined.