<p>Can somebody ELI5?  Is it true that every block that is discovered, the person that discovered the block will be awarded 12.5 bitcoins?  But to discover such a block, somehow the person has to get a SHA256 number that has all 0's for the first 72 bits?</p>
<p>What if somehow, in that 10 minutes, two new blocks are discovered, or likewise, what if a new block took 20 minutes to be discovered?</p>
<p>And it is 10 minutes per block discovered? So in the year 2022, when the number of bitcoin awarded is halved again, to 6.25 bitcoins, does that mean it is still 10 minutes per block, but now the award is 6.25 bitcoins?</p>
<p>Or does the 72 of 0 bits now become 73 of 0 bits?</p>
<p>So is it true that even in year 2140, when all 21 million bitcoins have been rewarded, then new blocks will still come out every 10 miniutes, and good for recording transactions?</p>
<p>It is said that 1 block is 1MB, and each transaction is about 0.25kb, so 1 block = 1MB, is good for 4000 transactions.  So in year 2035, or in year 2140, we can still record new transaction at a rate of 4000 transaction per 10 minutes?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T17:22:52.750Z
Does this answer your question? [What exactly is Mining?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/148/what-exactly-is-mining) and [What keeps the average block time at 10 minutes?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/855/13866)
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T17:31:58.267Z
@RedGrittyBrick do those answers talk about 72 bits of 0's?
deeper-understanding
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T17:37:43.087Z
72 bits of  0s is not a special number overall. You are talking about a difficulty level which is readjusted every 2016 blocks based on prior 2015 block times. At some time the difficulty level might be a number that has some specific number of leading zeros at other times it will be different. It effectively adjusts depending on the combined total hashing power (total hashrate) of miners. It is adjusted to whatever number would be sufficient to keep the block production rate near 10 mins. **This *is* explained in answers to the linked questions.**
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T17:41:16.907Z
P.S. to attract better answers, you can try to ask only one question at a time (I count eight question marks in your question above). This is explained in the [help]
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T18:56:30.480Z
If I ask one question at the time, are you sure there will be no issue about "asking too many questions"?
deeper-understanding
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-30T20:38:42.703Z
I find it best to search for similar questions here before asking, then choose and compose question carefully to minimise the number - focus on the most important. Your mileage may vary
RedGrittyBrick
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-01-31T08:53:18.427Z
sometimes, a question has 5 answers and 2000 words and you still can't find what you are looking for
deeper-understanding
<transactions><blockchain><block>
Is it true that the rate of finding a new block is constant, but just that the bitcoin reward become less and less?
deeper-understanding
# Is it true that the rate of finding a new block is constant, but just that the bitcoin reward become less and less?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-01-30)

Can somebody ELI5? Is it true that every block that is discovered, the person that discovered the block will be awarded 12.5 bitcoins? But to discover such a block, somehow the person has to get a SHA256 number that has all 0's for the first 72 bits?

What if somehow, in that 10 minutes, two new blocks are discovered, or likewise, what if a new block took 20 minutes to be discovered?

And it is 10 minutes per block discovered? So in the year 2022, when the number of bitcoin awarded is halved again, to 6.25 bitcoins, does that mean it is still 10 minutes per block, but now the award is 6.25 bitcoins?

Or does the 72 of 0 bits now become 73 of 0 bits?

So is it true that even in year 2140, when all 21 million bitcoins have been rewarded, then new blocks will still come out every 10 miniutes, and good for recording transactions?

It is said that 1 block is 1MB, and each transaction is about 0.25kb, so 1 block = 1MB, is good for 4000 transactions. So in year 2035, or in year 2140, we can still record new transaction at a rate of 4000 transaction per 10 minutes?

**Tags:** transactions, blockchain, block

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Does this answer your question? [What exactly is Mining?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/148/what-exactly-is-mining) and [What keeps the average block time at 10 minutes?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/855/13866)  
> **username_0**: @username_1 do those answers talk about 72 bits of 0's?  
> **username_1**: 72 bits of  0s is not a special number overall. You are talking about a difficulty level which is readjusted every 2016 blocks based on prior 2015 block times. At some time the difficulty level might be a number that has some specific number of leading zeros at other times it will be different. It effectively adjusts depending on the combined total hashing power (total hashrate) of miners. It is adjusted to whatever number would be sufficient to keep the block production rate near 10 mins. **This *is* explained in answers to the linked questions.**  
> **username_1**: P.S. to attract better answers, you can try to ask only one question at a time (I count eight question marks in your question above). This is explained in the [help]  
> **username_0**: If I ask one question at the time, are you sure there will be no issue about "asking too many questions"?  
> **username_1**: I find it best to search for similar questions here before asking, then choose and compose question carefully to minimise the number - focus on the most important. Your mileage may vary  
> **username_0**: sometimes, a question has 5 answers and 2000 words and you still can't find what you are looking for  

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