Block Reward
The block reward is the coins paid to whoever finds a block: the network's issuance plus the fees from that block's transactions.
What the block reward is
The first transaction in every block is special: it creates new coins out of nothing and sends them to whoever assembled the block. On top of that issuance come the fees of every transaction included in the block. The total is the reward.
Bitcoin's issuance halves every 210 thousand blocks, roughly once every four years. Since the April 2024 halving it is 3.125 BTC per block, and the next cut is expected in 2028. Blocks arrive every ten minutes, so the network issues about 144 blocks per day.
Other networks have their own rules. Litecoin has paid 6.25 LTC since August 2023. Dogecoin's issuance is fixed at 10000 DOGE per block, with no more halvings. Ethereum Classic dropped to 1.6384 ETC on July 22, 2026, and some public calculators kept using the old figure, overstating income.
In a pool you do not receive the reward itself, you receive a slice of it. The pool adds up the blocks it found over a period, takes its fee, and splits the rest by each member's contribution. So the reward size feeds straight into your payout, and a halving cuts it in half in a single day.
Quick reference table
| What it consists of | issuance plus transaction fees |
| Bitcoin | 3.125 BTC, next halving expected in 2028 |
| Litecoin | 6.25 LTC since the 2023 halving |
| Dogecoin | 10000 DOGE, no more halvings |
| Ethereum Classic | 1.6384 ETC since July 22, 2026 |
What happens after a block is found
The block goes out to the network, nodes verify it and build the next ones on top. Reward coins cannot be spent right away: on Bitcoin they unlock after 100 confirmations, which is about seventeen hours. Pools pay out of their own funds sooner, so you never notice the delay.
The fee portion of the reward floats. On quiet days it is a few percent, and on days when the network is congested, fees add a noticeable chunk. That is exactly what sets FPPS apart from PPS: it shares that extra part.
Keep the halving in mind when estimating payback. If the calculator says the asic pays for itself in two years and the halving lands in one, the second half of that period runs on half the issuance.
Example in numbers
A Bitcoin day is roughly 144 blocks of 3.125 BTC, which is about 450 BTC of issuance for the whole network, plus fees. Every miner on the planet splits that, and the slice of an Antminer S21 at 200 TH/s with the network near 950 EH/s works out to around 0.00013 BTC per day.
An Antminer L7 runs Scrypt and draws its slice from a different issuance: Litecoin at 6.25 LTC per block and Dogecoin at 10000 DOGE, mined together. These days DOGE brings in the bigger part of a Scrypt asic's revenue.
Related terms
Where to go next on the site
Coins
- Bitcoin coins
- Litecoin coins
- Dogecoin coins
- Ethereum Classic coins
Hardware
- Antminer S21 tool
- Antminer L7 tool
Numbers
Questions and answers
What is a halving
A scheduled cut of the issuance by half. On Bitcoin it happens every 210 thousand blocks, roughly every four years. The last one was in April 2024, and the reward became 3.125 BTC.
Are the block reward and a miner's income the same thing
No. The reward goes to whoever finds the block, while in a pool you get a slice matching your contribution, minus the pool fee. Your income also depends on network difficulty and the coin price.
Why does one block carry lots of fees and another almost none
Fees depend on how many transactions are waiting and how much people will pay for speed. On busy days the bonus on top of the reward is noticeable, on quiet days it is close to zero.
What happens when the issuance runs out
Bitcoin's issuance tapers to zero around the year 2140, and fees will be the only reward left. For the payback math on an asic bought today, that has no practical weight.
Why does an online calculator show more than actually arrives
A common cause is a stale reward figure in its data. That happened with Ethereum Classic after July 22, 2026: some services kept the old value and overstated the income.
How the terms connect
Every link in the chain is clickable. Orange marks where you are now.
Looking for an ASIC miner
The catalog holds 212 models. You can compare them by hashrate and by joules per terahash, then plug your own rate into the calculator and see what stays in your pocket.
Page written and checked by Denys Klimchuk. Updated .