What is Miner?
An operator that produces proof-of-work blocks and earns the block reward and fees.
Miners are paid in newly issued coins plus fees. When the price falls below their running cost, some shut down, which is part of the supply response.
They matter for markets too: large miners sell to cover energy bills, and their balances are watched as potential supply.
Related terms
- Proof of workBasics
Consensus by spending compute to find a hash below a target; Bitcoin's original mechanism.
- Hash rateOn-chain
The total computing power securing a proof-of-work chain.
- HalvingBasics
The scheduled cut in new Bitcoin issued per block, every 210,000 blocks, roughly four years.