Have you ever wondered if you could earn passive income from your spare computer through mining or cryptocurrencies? A block reward is a set number of coins or coins awarded to a validator in exchange for successfully adding an entirely new block of transactions to the blockchain.
Block rewards act as an incentive for blockchain miners to verify transactions and validate new blocks, ensuring the overall security of the blockchain.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about block rewards, their structure, and how to successfully verify transactions on the blockchain protocol to earn rewards.
Let’s fix it!
Executive Summary Block rewards in crypto are cryptocurrency tokens that are awarded to individuals or groups that participate in the validation process of a blockchain network. The block reward consists of two components – the block subsidy (newly minted coins) and the transaction fee. Users who verify transactions are called validators or (depending on the underlying consensus mechanism) miners or stakeholders. What is a consensus mechanism?
Just a reminder that the consensus mechanism is the foundation of the technology that enables miners to verify transactions on the blockchain. The consensus mechanism controls token issuance, block validation, and yes, block rewards.
Simply put, consensus mechanisms are systems that allow cryptocurrencies to function without a central authority. In doing so, they enable users to validate transactions by using their computing power, locking their token holdings, etc. While the market is flooded with consensus mechanisms of many sizes and flavours, two of the most popular ones include Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
Block Rewards in Crypto: Explained
Simply put, block rewards are a portion of new tokens and/or transaction fees paid to miners or stakers for validating a new block.
When a validator successfully adds a block to the blockchain, they receive a certain amount of crypto as a reward. As the name suggests, a block reward is the compensation paid to a miner who successfully adds a block of transactions to the blockchain. In addition to incentivizing miners to participate in and secure the network, these rewards effectively ‘release’ new currency into the markets, acting as the monetary policy of the blockchain.
The reward is determined by a specific cryptocurrency protocol. For example, bitcoin’s block reward has been halved since the protocol was introduced in 2009 and will remain halved in the future until the total number of coins in circulation reaches its maximum supply of 21 million coins. As such, its block reward was initially 50 newly-minted coins per block, but currently, bitcoin miners receive 6.25 bitcoins per block. Halvings often push up the fiat value of coins, meaning fewer coins in circulation means less supply versus demand.
Block rewards play an important role in cryptocurrency networks, providing an incentive for validators to contribute to the security and stability of the network.
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block rewards and transaction fees
Transaction fees are dynamic fees that users pay for validators to process their transactions. The fee may be higher or lower depending on the network congestion and the user’s desire to speed up the process.
The transaction fee is part of the reward validators make for adding a new block to the blockchain. They ensure that the network remains secure and efficient. When the network experiences a high volume of transactions, users often compete for limited block space by increasing transaction fees. As validators receive a fixed issuance reward, they prioritize transactions with higher fees by including them in the latest block.
In short, transaction fees and block subsidies are two essential components of a block reward structure. While block subsidies provide a fixed reward for adding a block, transaction fees provide a dynamic way of prioritizing transactions and ensuring quick and efficient processing.
Now, let’s explore the block reward structures for PoW and PoS consensus mechanisms.
Block Reward in PoW (Mining)
The proof-of-work consensus mechanism enables users to validate transactions using their computing power to help secure the network. In this case, validators are also called miners.
The mining node that solves the computational problem first is rewarded with a block reward, which consists of a pre-determined amount of cryptocurrency. Additionally, they receive any transaction fees associated with transactions included in the new block.
The PoW mechanism is designed to prevent double spending, ensure network concurrency, and maintain the integrity of the blockchain. Also, this is the only way to release new bitcoins into the ecosystem.
However, the drawback of PoW is that it is not energy efficient – the algorithms are computationally intensive, requiring significant energy and computational power.
bitcoin halving
The bitcoin blockchain currently offers a block reward of 6.25 BTC – meaning this amount of BTC is minted approximately every 10 minutes (each block). The reward is cut in half roughly every four years (or every 210,000 blocks) in a process called the bitcoin halving.
Here is a chronological list of bitcoin block rewards:
2008: 50 BTC per block 2012: 25.00 BTC per block 2016: 12.50 BTC per block 2020: 6.25 BTC per block
As mentioned, when the BTC supply kicks in (around 2140), the bitcoin block reward will only include transaction fees.
mining difficulty
Mining difficulty is a statistic that reflects how difficult it is for competing miners to validate a block of transactions and receive a reward. The degree of difficulty changes to ensure blocks are mined at a safe and stable rate regardless of the number of miners.
bitcoin mining difficulty | Source: Coinwarz
Mining difficulty is measured by the number of calculations required to solve a PoW problem. As more miners join the network and the total mining power increases, the difficulty of keeping the block rate stable will increase.
In the case of bitcoin, the mining difficulty automatically adjusts every 2,016 blocks to keep the average block time around 10 minutes.
mining pool
However, it’s not all fun and games – over time, as new users join the network, validating a new block becomes more and more difficult. The PoW mechanism favors miners with high-tech and expensive equipment, which practically puts smaller miners out of competition.
Since the probability of a single user validating a transaction on their own is less than zero, validators add their resources to the mining pool in order to increase their chances of receiving a block reward. Mining pools are groups of miners who work together to mine cryptocurrencies more effectively by pooling their computational resources on a network.
By combining resources, miners can earn a steady stream of small rewards instead of rare but large ones. This helps them reduce the volatility of block rewards and create a more stable income stream. The pool collectively earns rewards for each block mined and then distributes those rewards to individual miners based on the computational power they have contributed.
However, the centralization of the mining process through mining pools poses a threat to the decentralization of the network. For example, the top three combined mining pools will own a majority stake in the network, allowing them to approve fraudulent transactions if they so choose.
ecosystem fault
PoW in blockchain technology has resulted in large mining farms and significant energy consumption. According to Digiconomist, bitcoin mining alone consumes 83.76 TWH of electricity, which is more than entire countries combined.
bitcoin energy consumption | Source: Digieconomist
PoW rewards miners with specialized equipment, resulting in pool mining that can centralize the blockchain. Therefore, creating a new, efficient consensus algorithm to address these issues is of paramount importance.
Block Reward in PoS (Staking)
As discussed above, the proof-of-work algorithm requires a lot of computational power.
Proof-of-stake, a consensus algorithm created in 2011, aims to address this issue by using an election process to randomly choose a node to validate the next block and receive the block reward. The key difference between PoW and PoS is that they determine who will validate a block of transactions.
Unlike PoW, PoS does not have miners, but rather “validators” who “mint” or “forge” blocks. A node must lock or stake a certain amount of coins in the network in order to become a validator. The size of the stake correlates linearly with the validator’s chances of being selected for the next block, process transactions, and receive more block rewards.
Ethereum Total Staked Value | Source: Cryptoquant
Example: If Tom locks up 1 ETH while Mary locks up 10 ETH in the staking process, Mary is ten times more likely to be selected to create the next block. This may seem unfair, favoring those with more financial resources, but it is actually more equitable than PoW because it does not allow for the economies of scale enjoyed by those who buy more mining equipment and power at a discounted rate. Can
For a validator, staking is similar to making a bank deposit in a savings account. The more money you deposit – the more interest you earn. Similarly, the more coins the validator stakes or locks as collateral in the blockchain network, the more they earn.
rely on pos
While nodes are randomly selected to become validators, the selection is not entirely arbitrary. A node must stake a certain amount of cryptocurrency in order to become a validator. It acts as a security deposit and gives validators a financial incentive to act honestly, as they will lose a portion of their stake if they approve fraudulent transactions.
Trust in a proof-of-stake mechanism is achieved through a combination of factors, including selecting validators based on their stake and using a “slashing” mechanism, which prevents validators from cheating or behaving maliciously. punish for. This mechanism uses significantly less energy than proof-of-work and has a penalty mechanism for fraudulent blocks.
block reward structures
It is worth noting that block rewards vary in size and composition. Some blockchains have a specific block subsidy that changes occasionally; others carefully plan their prize payouts to maintain the token’s price; Some don’t even give block rewards!
If you plan to participate in the verification process of any blockchain, make sure you explore all aspects of their block reward system and reward program. You can find all the details about the inner workings of the consensus mechanism in the project’s crypto whitepaper.
closing thoughts
Every technology has its own advantages and disadvantages. Mining or staking can be a way to earn passive income, support the blockchain network, promote a project, learn and experiment with the technology, etc.
However, as with everything related to the crypto world, it requires thorough research, communication with the relevant community, and staying in touch with current trends.
