Mining

A consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve computationally difficult cryptographic puzzles (finding a hash below a target difficulty) to validate transactions and create new blocks. The first miner to find a valid solution broadcasts it to the network and earns the block reward. PoW's security comes from the immense cost of computation — attacking the network requires controlling 51%+ of the total hash rate, which is prohibitively expensive for major chains.

The total combined computational power being used to mine and process transactions on a Proof of Work blockchain, measured in hashes per second. A higher hash rate means greater network security because it becomes more expensive for an attacker to gain majority control. Hash rate is a key indicator of mining activity and network health.

The cryptocurrency awarded to a miner or validator for successfully creating a new block on the blockchain. Block rewards consist of newly minted coins (block subsidy) plus the transaction fees from all transactions included in the block. In Bitcoin, the block subsidy halves approximately every four years.

A pre-programmed event that cuts the block reward for mining new blocks in half, reducing the rate at which new coins are created. Bitcoin's halving occurs every 210,000 blocks (approximately every 4 years) and is a core mechanism for enforcing its deflationary supply schedule. Halvings are historically correlated with subsequent bull markets due to reduced sell pressure from miners.