Mining Rewards

The primary way that cryptocurrency mining generates income is through mining rewards. When a miner successfully adds a new block of transactions to the blockchain, they will receive a certain amount of cryptocurrency as a reward. The amount of reward depends on the crypto in question, and typically will decrease over time as more blocks are added to the blockchain. Furthermore, due to a phenomenon known as “halving” every so often certain cryptocurrencies — like Bitcoin — become twice as difficult to mine, earning miners half the reward.

For example, Bitcoin miners currently receive a reward of 6.25 Bitcoin per block. Around the Spring of 2024, approximately, the next halving event will occur, and miners will earn 3.125 Bitcoin per new block. Thus, “halving.”

Transaction Fees

Miners can also earn income through transaction fees. When a user engages in a cryptocurrency transaction, they can include a transaction free to incentivize miners to process their transactions more quickly. Miners will often prioritize transactions with higher fees, allowing them to earn more income.

In the case of Bitcoin, the average transaction fee in 2020 was around $3.50 per transaction. For miners processing a large volume of transactions, this fee can really add up.

Selling Mined Cryptocurrency

Another way that crypto mining can potentially generate income is through selling the mined crypto. While miners can choose to hold the crypto they mined, they can equally choose to sell it. — whether immediately or at a later time, hoping for the price to increase. Because crypto mining is an energy intensive endeavor, the cost of energy required to mine crypto must be taken into account, as even selling the mined crypto can come at a loss if the total selling price is less than the cost of mining.

Selling cryptocurrency is also subject to capital gains taxes, which must also be taken into account.

Staking Rewards

Some cryptocurrencies also offer what are known as staking rewards. Staking rewards are a type of reward that miners can earn by “staking,” or locking up their cryptocurrency holdings. Staking essentially makes the crypto unavailable for use for a certain period of time. This helps to validate transactions and secure the network, and as a reward, miners will receive a percentage of the cryptocurrency that they stakes, along with other transaction fees associated with the transactions they helped to validate.

Ethereum, as an example, currently offers staking rewards of around 5-6% annually. Although staking is not the same thing as mining, it can be a way for users to potentially generate income.