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0 pointsknodi12311y ago0 comments

is mining competitive, though?

0 comments

Absolutely. A fixed reward (25 BTC) is rewarded each time a block is mined. Each block is based on the prior blocks in the chain, so when one miner mines a block, all the other miners must start over. Blocks are mined on average once every ten minutes, so basically, a random miner is selected approximately once every ten minutes to receive a reward.

hueving11y ago

Saying they have to start over is implying that you're somehow making progress. The only progress your are making is just ruling out a few inputs from a massive search space. You don't really lose any work when it resets because the work you've done is useless.

kbenson11y ago

I understand the semantic difference, but I'm not sure the distinction matters in any way. The implication that there is progress is tenuous at best.

clarkm11y ago

Of course they lose work. They have to pay the set-up cost of bundling a new set of transactions for the next block.

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