Bitcoin: block reward for a tiny transaction
Bitcoin: block reward for a tiny transaction I'm sure this a basic question, but I would like to check my understanding. At the moment, a miner who grows the blockchain by confirming a block is rewarded with 12.5 bitcoins. This incentivises miners to validate transactions. Today each bitcoin is worth $13032.00. It is really correct that if Bob sends Alice some tiny fraction, say one ten-thousandth, of a bitcoin, today worth $1.30, then each confirmation is worth $162,900.00 to the miner? If this is correct, then it is only economical to offer a transaction fee comparable in value to the miner's reward when the transaction is huge. So as a follow up, I would like to ask: What are typical transaction fees at the moment, and how is this likely to change as the number of bitcoins approaches its theoretical maximum of 21 million? http://ift.tt/2BGm5L9