Mina Reward Calculation

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This article is relevant for the post-hardfork state of the Mina Blockchain.

Mina blockchain offers a reward for block production to encourage nodes to produce new blocks so that the blockchain will be continuously maintained. You can be rewarded for staking Mina by running a node and producing blocks or delegating tokens to a validator. Validators that stake Mina get 100% of the reward they win minus the reward of their delegators and the snark-work fee (see Formula 1).

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Glossary

Block - a discrete unit of a blockchain that carries information about transactions, which is recorded in a special cryptographic way.
Block production - the process of producing blocks, which includes adding transactions to a block and recording them therein in a cryptographic manner, as well as gossiping network participants and adding a new block to the network.
Delegation - a type of blockchain consensus protocol that allows users to spend their coins or tokens to vote for different delegates.
Delegator - an account that makes its staking by providing its own funds to a node rather than running its own node.
Node - a device (such as a computer) that contains a copy of the blockchain's transaction history and maintains a blockchain.
Reward - tokens paid to a block producer for block production to encourage it to engage in maintaining blockchain consistency.
Snarker fee - a fee for using the network node that provides ZK-proof.
Validator - a node that maintains the integrity of the blockchain by constantly calculating the link from the first to the last block and by approving new blocks created by block producers.
Validator pool - a pool that consists of the stake of elected validators.

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Formula 1 - Validator Reward Calculation

BR = CR+TF+SF,
where BR- block reward,
CR - coinbase reward,
TF - transaction fee,
SF - snark-work fee

Winning a reward for block creation is a lottery; the chances depend on the validator’s pool share: the higher the pool share, the more chances a validator has to win block production. The amount of the reward paid is 720 Mina.

Delegators can win a reward as a result of a delegation, and its size depends on their stake (share) in the validator pool: the more significant stake a delegator has in the validator pool, the more substantial share of the reward it can receive. Delegation is beneficial for both validators and delegators: the first charge a fee for a delegation from delegators, while the latter gets a chance to participate in staking without having to run a node. The amount of the reward paid to a delegator is calculated as specified by Formula 2.

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Formula 2 - Delegator Reward Calculation

DR = BRS (1-PF),
where DR - delegator reward,
BR - block reward,
S - shares,
PF - pool fees.

You can see how validators pay rewards on Minascan