<p>The mining reward is the sum of two parts: Transaction fees and block reward. </p>

<p>The transaction fees are the sum of the transaction fees of the transactions that the miner is trying to validate.</p>

<p>The block reward follows a predetermined schedule: It started with 50 BTC per block and halves every 210,000 blocks. According to <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#How_long_will_it_take_to_generate_all_the_coins.3F" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the bitcoin.it-FAQ</a> the last block to have a block reward will be block #6,929,999.</p>

<p>The protocol includes a check that will reject blocks which assign more than <em>block reward + transaction fees</em> in the coinbase transactions. Assigning less is valid, however, <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/13336/if-a-coinbase-reward-isnt-fully-spent-can-the-coins-ever-be-recovered/13339#13339">the difference will be lost</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-18T15:33:16.780Z
2013-09-18T15:33:16.780Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.610Z
Murch
<p>The block reward schedule is part of the Bitcoin specification. It started out at 50 Bitcoins per block and halves every 210,000 blocks.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-17T23:33:18.793Z
Depending on how you define "mint", claimed fees from transactions in the block may need to be included as well.
Pieter Wuille
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-17T23:30:05.367Z
2013-09-17T23:30:05.367Z
David Schwartz
<p>I understand that lucky clients that create blocks get some transaction fees and are allowed to mint a few new bitcoins to keep for themselves.</p>

<p>How do clients know how many new bitcoins to mint for themselves when creating a block?</p>

<mining-reward><reward-schedule>
How do Bitcoin clients know how many new bitcoins to mint when creating a block?
Dan
# How do Bitcoin clients know how many new bitcoins to mint when creating a block?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-09-17)

I understand that lucky clients that create blocks get some transaction fees and are allowed to mint a few new bitcoins to keep for themselves.

How do clients know how many new bitcoins to mint for themselves when creating a block?

**Tags:** mining-reward, reward-schedule


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-09-18. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

The mining reward is the sum of two parts: Transaction fees and block reward.

The transaction fees are the sum of the transaction fees of the transactions that the miner is trying to validate.

The block reward follows a predetermined schedule: It started with 50 BTC per block and halves every 210,000 blocks. According to [the bitcoin.it-FAQ](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#How_long_will_it_take_to_generate_all_the_coins.3F) the last block to have a block reward will be block #6,929,999.

The protocol includes a check that will reject blocks which assign more than *block reward + transaction fees* in the coinbase transactions. Assigning less is valid, however, [the difference will be lost](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/13336/if-a-coinbase-reward-isnt-fully-spent-can-the-coins-ever-be-recovered/13339#13339).


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### Answer by username_2 on 2013-09-17. Score: 2

The block reward schedule is part of the Bitcoin specification. It started out at 50 Bitcoins per block and halves every 210,000 blocks.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Depending on how you define "mint", claimed fees from transactions in the block may need to be included as well.  

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