Block Reward
MININGDEFINITION
The new bitcoin a miner earns for adding a block — currently 3.125 BTC — plus all the fees from transactions inside it.
The block reward is how every bitcoin in existence entered circulation: no premine, no allocation, just rewards paid out block by block since 2009. It halves every 210,000 blocks (~4 years), which is why the supply curve flattens toward 21 million.
As the subsidy shrinks toward zero (final satoshi ~2140), transaction fees are designed to take over as the incentive securing the network.
IN A SENTENCE
“After the 2028 halving the block reward drops from 3.125 to 1.5625 BTC.”
Key facts
Common questions
Who pays the block reward?
The protocol itself — the winning miner writes a special transaction creating the new coins, valid only if the block follows every rule.
What happens when it reaches zero?
Miners earn only transaction fees. Whether fees alone sustain security is a long-debated open question with a century of runway.