Understanding Hashrate, Difficulty, and Block Rewards
The three numbers that determine your daily BTC mining output.
Hashrate
Hashrate is the speed at which your miner makes guesses at the mathematical puzzle. It's measured in terahashes per second (TH/s). More hashrate = more chances to win the block reward. A 200 TH/s machine makes 200 trillion guesses per second.
Network difficulty
Difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks (~2 weeks) to keep block times near 10 minutes. If more miners join the network, difficulty rises. If miners leave, it drops. Rising difficulty means each terahash earns slightly less BTC over time.
Block rewards
The current block reward is 3.125 BTC, set by the April 2024 halving. The next halving (to 1.5625 BTC) is expected around 2028. Transaction fees add an additional variable amount on top of the block reward.
Putting it together
Your estimated daily BTC output = (your hashrate / total network hashrate) * daily block rewards. As difficulty rises, you need either more hashrate or more efficient hardware to maintain the same output level.