Block Reward

When a new block is added to a blockchain like Bitcoin, miners receive a block reward as compensation for their work. This reward has two parts: the block subsidy—newly created coins released with each block—and all transaction fees from the payments included in that block. Together, these make up the full block reward.

Over time, the block subsidy is reduced by half roughly every four years, so transaction fees are gradually becoming a more significant part of the total reward for miners. Sometimes, people refer to the block reward as just the subsidy, but technically it’s the total of both new coins and fees.

Miners receive their block reward through a special transaction called the coinbase transaction, which always appears first in a block. Unlike regular transactions, it doesn’t use any previous coins as input. There's a 100-block waiting period before miners can spend these rewards, helping to secure the network and prevent certain types of attacks.