What is Monero tail emission?
Monero tail emission is the ongoing release of 0.6 XMR in newly created coins per block, which miners receive for helping secure the network. It began in June 2022 and has no scheduled end, so Monero does not have a fixed maximum supply.
How tail emission works
When you hear “emission,” it simply means the creation of new coins. A block is a batch of transactions added to Monero’s shared transaction record, called the blockchain.
Before tail emission, Monero’s reward for creating a block gradually decreased. That initial phase, called main emission, produced roughly 18.13 million XMR. Rather than letting the reward eventually reach zero, Monero switched to a lasting base reward of 0.6 XMR per block.
Monero aims to produce one block about every two minutes. That makes the expected rate of new coin creation approximately:
- 0.3 XMR per minute
- 432 XMR per day
- 157,680 XMR per 365-day year
These are averages, not an exact timetable. Blocks can arrive sooner or later. Also, 0.6 XMR is the base reward: Monero’s rules can reduce a block’s reward when a miner makes it unusually large.
Why Monero keeps creating coins
Tail emission gives miners a continuing reason to help protect Monero.
Miners use computing power to check transactions and compete to add the next block. Running that equipment costs money, especially for electricity. In return, the successful miner receives newly created XMR plus transaction fees, which people pay when sending funds.
Without newly created coins, miners would have to rely entirely on those fees. Monero’s tail emission keeps a predictable base reward in place, even when transaction activity is low.
That does not guarantee that mining will always be profitable or that the network is immune to attacks. It does mean Monero does not depend solely on future transaction fees to pay miners.
What this means for Monero’s supply
Monero’s supply keeps growing, but its percentage rate of supply growth gets smaller over time.
You can think of it as adding the same amount of water to an increasingly large tank. The added amount stays the same, but it becomes a smaller share of what is already there.
At the start of tail emission, annual new issuance was roughly 0.87% of the existing supply. That percentage declines as the total supply grows.
This is supply inflation: an increase in the number of coins. It does not tell you how Monero’s price will move. Demand and other market conditions still matter. Tail emission neither guarantees price stability nor guarantees a falling price.
What it means if you mine
The 0.6 XMR reward is not a payment to every miner. It goes to the miner who finds a valid block, or to a mining pool—a group that combines computing power and shares rewards under its own rules.
If you mine through a browser, tail emission does not guarantee you a particular income. Your share depends on your computing contribution, competition from other miners, fees, and the service’s payout rules. Newly mined block rewards also remain locked for 60 blocks, roughly two hours on average.
The bottom line
Tail emission is Monero’s permanent base mining reward. It trades a fixed supply limit for ongoing miner payments, while making new issuance a steadily smaller percentage of the total supply.
