<p>The answer to your question is yes. The transaction fees reward miners from processing transactions. The block reward is for securing the hash chain. They're not "processing a zero", they're securing every transaction made in every previous block, increasing the number of confirmations it has and increasing the difficulty of undoing it.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-11-19T21:33:30.130Z
2011-11-19T21:33:30.130Z
David Schwartz
<p>It doesn't required there be zero transaction in a 10 minute period.  Each miner (or pool) decides which transactions to include and they can choose to include nothing. </p>

<p>However all blocks will have at least one transaction the coinbase transaction which includes the signer's reward address.  There must be one and only one coinbase transaction for a block to be valid.</p>

<p>The coinbase is where new coins are mined out of thin air to increase the money supply.  This transaction also transfers any transaction fees to the miner.  If block reward (subsidy) and fees are both zero then then this transaction will still exist it will just have a value of zero.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-11-22T05:01:39.697Z
2011-11-23T16:29:16.290Z
2011-11-23T16:29:16.290Z
DeathAndTaxes
<p>The mining reward must be collected with a transaction, so technically there is at least one transaction in each block. </p>

<p>The mining reward was designed to enable the initial distribution of bitcoins and to encourage the creation of a powerful bitcoin network with a lot of computers to support it, therefore it makes perfect sense that a miner gets the block mining reward regardless of how many transactions were included.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-11-19T16:29:33.083Z
2013-08-30T15:10:49.320Z
2013-08-30T15:10:49.320Z
Serith
<p>What happens if there are no transactions in a block?  Suppose there is a 10 minute time frame  in the middle of the night, maybe on a holiday, and there are no transactions made.  Do the miners get paid 50 bitcoins for processing a zero?</p>

<mining-reward><mining-theory><empty-blocks>
What happens if there are no transactions in a block?
shoeless joe
# What happens if there are no transactions in a block?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-11-19)

What happens if there are no transactions in a block? Suppose there is a 10 minute time frame in the middle of the night, maybe on a holiday, and there are no transactions made. Do the miners get paid 50 bitcoins for processing a zero?

**Tags:** mining-reward, mining-theory, empty-blocks


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2011-11-19. Score: 19 | Accepted answer

The mining reward must be collected with a transaction, so technically there is at least one transaction in each block.

The mining reward was designed to enable the initial distribution of bitcoins and to encourage the creation of a powerful bitcoin network with a lot of computers to support it, therefore it makes perfect sense that a miner gets the block mining reward regardless of how many transactions were included.


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### Answer by username_1 on 2011-11-19. Score: 16

The answer to your question is yes. The transaction fees reward miners from processing transactions. The block reward is for securing the hash chain. They're not "processing a zero", they're securing every transaction made in every previous block, increasing the number of confirmations it has and increasing the difficulty of undoing it.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2011-11-22. Score: 6

It doesn't required there be zero transaction in a 10 minute period. Each miner (or pool) decides which transactions to include and they can choose to include nothing.

However all blocks will have at least one transaction the coinbase transaction which includes the signer's reward address. There must be one and only one coinbase transaction for a block to be valid.

The coinbase is where new coins are mined out of thin air to increase the money supply. This transaction also transfers any transaction fees to the miner. If block reward (subsidy) and fees are both zero then then this transaction will still exist it will just have a value of zero.


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