Optional/Required Transaction Fee

[meighty]

These fees. Whom do they go to? The optional I read is not necessary at the moment but later may increase your priority in the network and speed up your confirmations for transfers.

I did notice that the fee for small transfers while it has gone down recently (0.0005) is not optional. Who gets this? It says it goes to the nodes. I thought each of us were the nodes. Do/will I get a small bit of BTC for keeping my client open and helping confirm transactions?

[1714187715]

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[1714187715]

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[brybot]

As long as you are mining you have the chance to generate a block. If you generate a block you get 50 bitcoins AND whatever transaction fees were in it. As a solo miner you are very unlikely to generate a block yourself. If you join a pool you may see some returns.

Does that help?

[meighty]

I was referring the bitcoin client where your wallet is stored. If I were to transfer say... 0.01 to my buddy, it says there is a fee involved for keeping the nodes up and happy.

Who gets this fee?

[rezin777]

I was referring the bitcoin client where your wallet is stored. If I were to transfer say... 0.01 to my buddy, it says there is a fee involved for keeping the nodes up and happy.

Who gets this fee?

The people who process and secure transactions. The miners. The one who finds the next block gets the current block reward plus the fees for the transactions he includes in the block.

[brybot]

I was referring the bitcoin client where your wallet is stored. If I were to transfer say... 0.01 to my buddy, it says there is a fee involved for keeping the nodes up and happy.

Who gets this fee?

That fee is the same fee that ends up in each block of transactions.

[hazek]

Here you go, a link to the last block found right now: http://blockexplorer.com/block/00000000000009367d838cacb745624f004495e1e06f4a9a4449e03f1ef471ec

Click on it and you'll see the very first transaction it says 50BTC + 0.1535 total fees, which is the sum of all the fees of all the transactions that you can see further down. So the person who found this block, gets the reward + the fees.

[Epinnoia]

These fees. Whom do they go to?

It goes to the person who solves the block.  That could be an individual miner, but most likely the pool operator.  Most/all pool operators take that fee for their service.