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I'm still learning how Bitcoin works and one thing that remains unclear to me is when Bitcoin is awarded to a miner.

From my understanding, a certain amount of Bitcoin is awarded to a miner when a new block is discovered. However, there are a few missing pieces for me:

  1. If Bitcoin is verified per transaction, then shouldn't Bitcoin be awarded per transaction?
  2. If Bitcoin is awarded per transaction, then how is there multiple transaction per block?
  3. How does one discover a new block?
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    Does this answer your question? What exactly is Mining?
    – Vojtěch Strnad
    Jul 14, 2021 at 3:54
  • No it does not answer my question
    – Gary Holiday
    Jul 14, 2021 at 4:10
  • Miners get block rewards and transaction fees for all the transactions that are included in that block. Approximately around 2400 transactions.
    – Jijo Bose
    Jul 14, 2021 at 5:12
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    @JijoBose: Please don't post answers in comments. Please use comments for requests to clarify or other transitory information. Please submit answers in the form of answer posts.
    – Murch ♦
    Jul 20, 2021 at 19:01

1 Answer 1

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  1. No, because that would just result in miners stuffing their own blocks with back-and-forth transactions.

  2. Every block has a finite amount of space (called "weight"), and every transaction has a certain weight based on its complexity. The sum of the weights of the transactions in a block cannot exceed 4000000. Transactions also each define a fee. Miners can claim the subsidy (6.25 BTC/block currently, halves every ~4 years) plus the sum of the fees of the transactions they include. Thus, miners are incentivized to include transactions that pay the most fee (per weight) first, if there are more transactions than what fits.

  3. There are many other questions and answers on this site around this topic.

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