<p><strong>The short answer is:</strong> You still have to mine a block, the transaction fee is added to the block reward.</p>

<p><strong>The detailed answer:</strong> The idea of transaction fees is to <strong>supply miners with enough BTCs</strong> so the can keep on mining blocks. Because we keep all transactions on the block chain, it's important for the BTC ecosystem to have a big miner community. Eventually the prize for solving a block will drop, but the number of transactions will increase in such a way, it'll add sufficient number of BTCs to the miners.</p>

<p>After a point, BTC price will hopefully high enough to give miners a incentive to continue mining.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T06:05:32.083Z
2014-02-04T06:05:32.083Z
Besir Kurtulmus
<p>The only way to collect money from transaction fees is to solve blocks; they are one and the same thing. The reward for being the first to successfully mine a block is:</p>

<ul>
<li>the coinbase reward (currently 25 BTC), and</li>
<li>any transaction fees for the transactions included in the block</li>
</ul>

<p>There is no way to separate these two.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T22:51:56.597Z
I believe that is incorrect because that would imply that we cannot process transactions after running out of coins. As a result, they must be separate components. Unless, it's the value of each block that is being halved, not the computational complexity of each block being doubled (my assumption is the later because we increase the number of leading zeros on the proof of work).
clueless
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T22:56:39.980Z
No, that doesn't imply such a thing at all. After the coinbase reward reaches zero in 2140 or whatever, the only reward miners will receive is the transaction fee component. The complexity of the mining transaction (the so-called "difficulty") is adjusted up OR down every two weeks to match the network performance, independent of the predetermined coinbase reward reduction schedule.
Greg Hewgill
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T23:01:08.857Z
It looks like my assumption, required for my reasoning to follow does not hold. The reason we run of out coins is because the value of mining a block is reduced over time: ( https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply ) not because it becomes more computationally difficult. Thanks for your help.
clueless
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-04T05:34:34.383Z
2014-02-04T05:34:34.383Z
Greg Hewgill
<p>I am unable to earn money from solving blocks, but I think I could make money from transaction fees. The issue is that pools hide the transaction fees from the miners. The miners earn the solved blocks. How would I go about processing transactions on my own?</p>

<p>This will satisfy two goals:</p>

<ol>
<li>earn transaction fees</li>
<li>any transactions I perform, I can process myself</li>
</ol>

<transaction-fees>
How do I set up my machine to process transactions and earn the transaction fees?
clueless
# How do I set up my machine to process transactions and earn the transaction fees?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-02-04)

I am unable to earn money from solving blocks, but I think I could make money from transaction fees. The issue is that pools hide the transaction fees from the miners. The miners earn the solved blocks. How would I go about processing transactions on my own?

This will satisfy two goals:

1. earn transaction fees
2. any transactions I perform, I can process myself

**Tags:** transaction-fees


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-02-04. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

The only way to collect money from transaction fees is to solve blocks; they are one and the same thing. The reward for being the first to successfully mine a block is:

* the coinbase reward (currently 25 BTC), and
* any transaction fees for the transactions included in the block

There is no way to separate these two.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I believe that is incorrect because that would imply that we cannot process transactions after running out of coins. As a result, they must be separate components. Unless, it's the value of each block that is being halved, not the computational complexity of each block being doubled (my assumption is the later because we increase the number of leading zeros on the proof of work).  
> **username_2**: No, that doesn't imply such a thing at all. After the coinbase reward reaches zero in 2140 or whatever, the only reward miners will receive is the transaction fee component. The complexity of the mining transaction (the so-called "difficulty") is adjusted up OR down every two weeks to match the network performance, independent of the predetermined coinbase reward reduction schedule.  
> **username_0**: It looks like my assumption, required for my reasoning to follow does not hold. The reason we run of out coins is because the value of mining a block is reduced over time: ( https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply ) not because it becomes more computationally difficult. Thanks for your help.  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2014-02-04. Score: 2

**The short answer is:** You still have to mine a block, the transaction fee is added to the block reward.

**The detailed answer:** The idea of transaction fees is to **supply miners with enough BTCs** so the can keep on mining blocks. Because we keep all transactions on the block chain, it's important for the BTC ecosystem to have a big miner community. Eventually the prize for solving a block will drop, but the number of transactions will increase in such a way, it'll add sufficient number of BTCs to the miners.

After a point, BTC price will hopefully high enough to give miners a incentive to continue mining.


---

