Bitcoin Forum

Hi all:

I was always under the impression that each 'block' mined (?) generated 50BTC. So imagine my confusion when the last block that I generated gave me 50.04BTC.

I'm just curious if this is normal or not and if so, can someone please explain to me how it is 'determined' how many coins are in that block?

Thanks!

It's 50 BTC, but if people has entered a fee (to speed up confirmation) this amount will be added to the block. In other words, you got 0.04 BTC worth of fees.

Hmm... just so that I understand this, please. I generated the coins, but when they were added to my account, they were added as 50.04. Before they were even confirmed, they were marked as 'generating' 50.04BTC.

So is it possible that that 0.04 fee came 'through' at the same time as I generated 50BTC, and they were just displaying as generating 50.04? Or are you saying that that 0.04 fee that I earned was somehow related to the 50BTC I generated?

Please excuse the confusion, but thanks for the help :)

When you pay a fee does it get divided among the first 5 or 10 people or just the first one to solve the block? Never heard much about how they get distributed.

Just the person who gets the block.

You can see a generation with a fee here:
http://blockexplorer.com/t/6my4zCgnVX
The fees are combined into the same output as the generation.

Awesome, thanks!

Thanks for the feedback all. I'll be completely honest, I still don't understand it, but again to be honest, I'm not sure I really care.

Yes, I will take the bonus coins whenever and however they come :)

The block you generated contains/encodes/verifies the transactions that occurred on the network during the time it took you to solve the block.
Some of those transactions included a fee so that they would get to the head of the transaction queue and get into the block you solved first.
Those fees go to the miner who solves the block and encodes the transactions.
There is a wiki, although no great detail about fees.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Blocks
"Bitcoin transactions are broadcast to the network by the sender, and all peers generating coins collect them and add them to the block they're working on."

So then how will this work when there are no more blocks to generate (we're at 21 mil)?

We will alway generate blocks. Just that the incentive to mine blocks will change to transaction fees.

Blocks are still generated, they just don't have any inherent value. Miners must be supported entirely by transaction fees.

Thanks moa: this one paragraph I think made everything make sense. Thank you.

Yes thank you, I have been very confused about the fees, where they go and where they come from this makes total sense and is a fantastic idea!! THANK YOU.