This may be a dumb question but how are we actually paying the miners to process our transactions? I understand some coins give you the option to pay more for a quicker transactions but how does this actually go to the miners? Is it added to the blocksize or distributed another way?
How are miners essential to the blockchain in allowing a transaction to process? Some altcoins don't have miners but process transfers quicker than BTC. How do I reconcile this?
Transactions fees are not mandatory. However, the miner who creates the block in which your transaction is contained can decide whether or not to accept your transaction and allow it to be included in the block. Consider the fee a tip of sorts, for a job well done.
As for other alt coins, some of them do not have miners, but a self-regulated network that does not require any person or outside machines to run it.
