Block Reward

Block

The fundamental economic incentive within proof-of-work blockchain networks, a block reward represents the newly minted cryptocurrency awarded to a miner successfully validating and adding a new block of transactions to the chain. This mechanism compensates miners for the computational resources expended in maintaining network security and processing transactions, ensuring the ongoing operation and integrity of the distributed ledger. The size of the block reward is predetermined by the protocol and typically decreases over time through a process known as halving, a deliberate design feature intended to control inflation and incentivize long-term network participation. Consequently, the diminishing reward structure encourages a shift from speculative mining towards a more sustainable, long-term commitment to network validation.