Block
A batch of transactions sealed into Bitcoin's history about every ten minutes.
In plain words
A block is a batch of payments sealed into history. Miners race to seal the next one. The winner earns the prize — new bitcoin plus every fee inside. Nothing is given; the prize is bought with work. A block lands about every ten minutes, and each new one buries the blocks before it deeper.
Why it matters
- Blocks are Bitcoin's heartbeat: the whole network moves to them.
- Block space is scarce. Payments bid for it — that is what fees are.
- The deeper a block is buried, the harder it is to undo.
Numbers that matter
- ~10 minutes — average gap between blocks.
- 4 million — weight units, the size cap per block.
- ~2,000–4,000 — payments in a typical full block.
Not to be confused with
- Blockchain — the chain is all blocks together; a block is one link.
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Updated 2026-07-29