Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

blockchain.info

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 118 posts

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#11

Post by tvdw »

adanto6840 wrote: post #6
ewillbefull wrote: post #4

13 bitcoins in transaction fees... lots of people wanted to be in this block.

Can you expand on this for a non bitcoin-savvy person?

Transaction fees are a 'gift' from the person doing the transaction to the person that's processing the transaction. Processing transactions is done in blocks, and the process is called 'mining' because for every processed block, the person who processes the block gets 25 BTC (before today that was 50 BTC) plus the transaction fees. Obviously 25 BTC is a lot, which is why it's so hard to mine blocks. Mining is often done in groups, and the person who mines a block has to share the profits with the rest of that group.

IIRC the entire Bitcoin community mines 6 blocks per hour, and it's the mining process that keeps Bitcoin going, because without miners there couldn't be any transactions.

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#12

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Evbn wrote: post #5

Translation to English from Bitcoinese?

Bitcoin works by having "blocks" of data, containing transaction history (every Bitcoin transfer someone has made - it is only actually made when incorporated into a block), "mined" by a network. These blocks are mined by incrementing a value in the block of data computing a hash of it, until it falls within a certain range. The fact the hash must be in this range results in Bitcoin miners having to do millions of hash computations until they find the correct one, creating a significant level of difficulty in producing a block. This difficulty means that it is difficult to spend Bitcoins twice, since you would theoretically need to control 50% of the computing power working away at it. Each miner is competing with every other to mine the next block first. Whoever does so can add a "reward" of Bitcoins to the block of transactions, and this is how new Bitcoins are made. Over time, the Bitcoin network increases the difficulty by making the range of valid hashes narrower, so that even as more miners join the network, it will still take roughly 10 minutes until the next block is mined. What's happened in this case is that now the reward, previously 50 BTC, has been halved to 25 BTC. I should note that miners can also deduct transaction fees... anyone who makes a transaction can add a small fee. This adds an additional incentive for miners to mine a block beyond the other reward. It also means, of course, that they prioritise whoever pays the highest fee.

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#13

Post by IanDrake »

nelse wrote: post #9
IanDrake wrote: post #7

Can anyone explain this to me? Sorry, I never really paid attention to bitcoin. I was sure the government would have killed it by now, labeling you all criminals.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining#Reward

Thanks. I guess no one else gets the sarcasm in my initial comment.

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#14

Post by harrigan »

adanto6840 wrote: post #6
ewillbefull wrote: post #4

13 bitcoins in transaction fees... lots of people wanted to be in this block.

Can you expand on this for a non bitcoin-savvy person?

For the 210,000th block some people voluntarily provided high transactions fees to reward the miner of the block: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/13xd05/idea_for_the...

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#16

Post by btilly »

IanDrake wrote: post #13
nelse wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining#Reward

Thanks. I guess no one else gets the sarcasm in my initial comment.

No, we get the sarcasm, we just want it left on Reddit.

Every community has its own quirks. You just encountered one of the more important ones for HN.

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#17

Post by pdog »

tvdw wrote: post #11
adanto6840 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on this for a non bitcoin-savvy person?

Transaction fees are a 'gift' from the person doing the transaction to the person that's processing the transaction. Processing transactions is done in blocks, and the process is called 'mining' because for every processed block, the person who processes the block gets 25 BTC (before today that was 50 BTC) plus the transaction fees. Obviously 25 BTC is a lot, which is why it's so hard to mine blocks. Mining is often…

What happens when nearly all of the 21 million Bitcoins are mined[1]? Will transactions not happen anymore?

[1] - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_Currency_Supply#Projec...

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#18

Post by himlion »

pdog wrote: post #17
tvdw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transaction fees are a 'gift' from the person doing the transaction to the person that's processing the transaction. Processing transactions is done in blocks, and the process is called 'mining' because for every processed block, the person who processes the block gets 25 BTC (before today that was 50 BTC) plus the transaction fees. Obviously 25 BTC is a lot, which is why it's so hard to mine blocks. Mining is often…

What happens when nearly all of the 21 million Bitcoins are mined[1]? Will transactions not happen anymore? [1] - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_Currency_Supply#Projec...

Transaction fee's should support the network.

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#19

Post by bglusman »

pdog wrote: post #17
tvdw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transaction fees are a 'gift' from the person doing the transaction to the person that's processing the transaction. Processing transactions is done in blocks, and the process is called 'mining' because for every processed block, the person who processes the block gets 25 BTC (before today that was 50 BTC) plus the transaction fees. Obviously 25 BTC is a lot, which is why it's so hard to mine blocks. Mining is often…

What happens when nearly all of the 21 million Bitcoins are mined[1]? Will transactions not happen anymore? [1] - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_Currency_Supply#Projec...

This is why transaction fees will increasingly be important as BTC matures, after all 21 Million are gone the only reward for "mining" will be the award of all transaction fees paid for transactions in that block, so much like the old west, mining is gradually replaced with banking/processing :-)

Re: Bitcoin Block #210 000 mined - reward halving

#20

Post by [deleted] »

pdog wrote: post #17
tvdw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transaction fees are a 'gift' from the person doing the transaction to the person that's processing the transaction. Processing transactions is done in blocks, and the process is called 'mining' because for every processed block, the person who processes the block gets 25 BTC (before today that was 50 BTC) plus the transaction fees. Obviously 25 BTC is a lot, which is why it's so hard to mine blocks. Mining is often…

What happens when nearly all of the 21 million Bitcoins are mined[1]? Will transactions not happen anymore? [1] - https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_Currency_Supply#Projec...

[deleted]
Post reply on HN