&gt; <i>$12,000 per block</i><p>If that&#x27;s true, then why the hell is anyone mining? Bitcoin is currently trading at $240 or so which is half of break-even if the block reward is 25BTC.<p>e: Nevermind, I see fryguy&#x27;s comment now:<p>&gt; <i>It&#x27;s 25 BTC + miner fees per block. According to the website linked, it&#x27;s about 20-30 BTC per block, so at $250 USD&#x2F;BTC, that&#x27;s ~$12,000 USD per block of electricity.</i><p>I wasn&#x27;t aware miner fees made up such a large portion of the reward these days.