After mining a block, Stratum v1 mines empty blocks until it receives a new block template. If it finds a block before receiving a new block template, the block will be empty
After a block is mined, the miner collects new transactions from the mempool for the new block. During this collection period, it makes economically sense for the miner to mine empty blocks.
One could say, that this is a waste of resources, or that it is unfair.
But since Bitcoin is permissionless and it is allowed by the protocol to mine empty blocks, everyone is free to do so. The disincentive for mining empty blocks is the missing out on transaction fees collected by the miner of a block
It seems a pity that opportunistically mining an empty block is better than having a new block ready to begin, even before the contents and validity of the preceding block is confirmed.
In the latter case, it might be wrong, it might overlap, but at least some more TXs would be confirmed.
After mining a block, Stratum v1 mines empty blocks until it receives a new block template. If it finds a block before receiving a new block template, the block will be empty
Thanks! Makes sense.
After a block is mined, the miner collects new transactions from the mempool for the new block. During this collection period, it makes economically sense for the miner to mine empty blocks.
One could say, that this is a waste of resources, or that it is unfair.
But since Bitcoin is permissionless and it is allowed by the protocol to mine empty blocks, everyone is free to do so. The disincentive for mining empty blocks is the missing out on transaction fees collected by the miner of a block
Thanks for the insight!
Which problem could arise forcing only not empty blocks to be mined?
favors miners who can get transactions faster
Ahh ok, thanks!
It seems a pity that opportunistically mining an empty block is better than having a new block ready to begin, even before the contents and validity of the preceding block is confirmed.
In the latter case, it might be wrong, it might overlap, but at least some more TXs would be confirmed.
It was mined < 1 min after the previous block.