Miners collect pending transactions, assemble a candidate block and search for the value that makes its hash meet the network's difficulty target. The first to find one broadcasts it, and if other nodes accept it the miner receives the block subsidy — newly created coins — plus the fees from the transactions included.
The economics are thin and competitive. Revenue depends on the coin's price, the share of network hash rate the operation controls, and the block subsidy, which on Bitcoin halves roughly every four years; costs are dominated by electricity and hardware that depreciates quickly. Most miners pool their hash rate to receive steady proportional payouts rather than waiting on the chance of finding a block alone.
What do miners actually get paid?
The block subsidy of newly issued coins plus the transaction fees in the block they produced. As subsidies halve over time, fees are designed to become the larger share.
Last updated October 17, 2026