4 ms·
That's not quite how it works. The difficulty of calculating hashes is dynamic -- a function of the global hashing power -- to ensure that, on average, each blo
by Xophmeister 9y ago
That's not quite how it works. The difficulty of calculating hashes is dynamic -- a function of the global hashing power -- to ensure that, on average, each block takes 10 minutes to mine. The miners are rewarded for mining a block from the mining fees paid in each transaction (which can be zero, but it's then very unlikely that your transaction will be picked up) and a reward. This reward started at 50 BTC per block and halves approximately every four years (it's currently 12.5 BTC per block): this is where new bitcoins are created. This series of halvings eventually converges to a sum of 21 million BTC available.
- TheGrassyKnoll 9y agoSo miners are pulling 12.5 * ~$11,555 = ~$144,437 every 10 minutes ? Sweet.
- Xophmeister 9y agoOne miner is (currently) rewarded with 12.5BTC when they mine a block before any of the other miners; minus the expense of the energy used in mining that block plus all the other blocks which they were unsuccessful in mining before everyone else (i.e., wasted effort). Hence the race for more efficient hashing hardware, to be the one who wins that reward before anyone else, without it costing them more than what they invested.