Block Reward

The block reward is the primary income stream of mining. It has two components: the protocol-defined subsidy (newly created coins, e.g. 3.125 BTC per Bitcoin block since the 2024 halving) and the transaction fees paid by users whose transactions the block includes.

Subsidies typically decline over time — Bitcoin halves every four years, Ethereum Classic steps down 20% every 5 million blocks, while Dogecoin pays a fixed 10,000 DOGE forever and Monero settled on a perpetual 0.6 XMR tail emission. The subsidy schedule is the single most important long-term variable in mining business plans.