Race no. ∞ · every ten minutes, on average
Mining is a night regatta.
Each new block is a race. Crews around the world sail blind, trying combinations as fast as they can. Whoever finds a valid block first wins the prize — and each crew's chance of winning a race equals its share of the total hashing power.
Fire the starting gunRace rules
Everyone sails blind
Miners hash block candidates with different nonces, hoping one falls below the network's target. Each attempt is an independent guess, so a race has no memory: no one is ever "almost there."
Speed is hash rate
A crew that makes twice as many guesses per second gets twice as many chances. Its probability of winning any given race equals its share of the total hash rate.
The course adjusts
Every 2,016 blocks, the network resets the difficulty so that races last about ten minutes on average, however many boats join.
The prize
The winner's block pays it the block subsidy plus the fees of the transactions inside. That reward can only be spent after 100 more blocks have been added.
Crews pool together
Small boats rarely win, so many miners join pools and split the prize by contribution. A pool's chance to win is the sum of its members' hash rate.
Race simulator
Set each crew's hash power. Then sail a single race, or a whole season, and compare wins with hash share. The crews are fictional; the probability is real.
Crews are at the start line.
| Crew | Hash share | Races won | Win rate | Wins vs. share |
|---|
The fine print
This regatta keeps only the core rule: chance to win is proportional to hash power. Real mining also involves:
- Propagation. A new block takes time to reach every node, so two crews sometimes finish nearly together and one block is left behind.
- Strategy. Researchers have studied ways a large miner might gain by withholding blocks; the network's defences are an active topic.
- Costs. Hardware, electricity, cooling, and pool fees decide whether winning is worth the sailing.
- Fees. The prize changes from block to block, because fees depend on demand for block space.