What is a block reward in bitcoin?

A block reward is the payment a miner receives for adding a new block to a blockchain. In bitcoin it has two parts, freshly created coins and the fees users attached to the transactions in that block. It is the reason miners spend money on machines and electricity, as covered in how bitcoin mining works.

What is a block reward in bitcoin, and how is it paid?

The 2008 Bitcoin white paper set out the idea. The first transaction in each block is a special one that creates new coins for whoever built the block. Because there is no central issuer, this is the only way new bitcoin enters circulation.

That first transaction is known as the coinbase transaction (no link to the exchange of the same name). It has no inputs, because the coins it pays out did not exist before. The miner chooses which addresses receive the output. In a mining pool, the pool collects the reward and splits it among members.

Bitcoin Core's code sets a rule called coinbase maturity. Coins from a coinbase transaction can only be spent after 100 further blocks have been added. Cointelegraph explains that the delay protects against forks. Recent blocks can occasionally be replaced, and the wait stops new coins from moving before their block is settled.

What is the current bitcoin block reward?

As of October 2026, the subsidy part is 3.125 BTC per block. The Bitcoin Wiki lists the schedule by block height:

• 50 BTC from the first block in 2009
• 25 BTC from block 210,000
• 12.5 BTC from block 420,000
• 6.25 BTC from block 630,000
• 3.125 BTC from block 840,000
• 1.5625 BTC from block 1,050,000

Each step is a bitcoin halving. The fee part changes with every block, so the total reward is different each time.

What is the difference between block reward vs transaction fees?

The two terms are often mixed up. River defines the block subsidy as the new bitcoin minted in a block, and the block reward as that subsidy plus all transaction fees in the block.

A fee is not set by the network. It is the gap between what a transaction spends and what it sends on, and the white paper says that leftover goes to the miner who includes it. Users who pay more tend to get confirmed sooner.

The subsidy shrinks on a fixed schedule, so fees are expected to make up a growing share over time and, eventually, all of it. How that might affect miners is covered in Bitcoin's security budget and what happens when all bitcoin are mined.

Can a miner take more or less than the block reward?

A miner cannot take more. Every node checks that the coinbase transaction pays out no more than the subsidy plus fees, and rejects the block if it does.

A miner can take less by mistake, and the difference is lost for good. The Bitcoin Wiki notes block 501726, where a faulty setup meant the whole 12.5 BTC subsidy was never claimed. Losses like this are one reason the final supply will end slightly below 21 million.