On-Chain

On-chain refers to any transaction, smart contract execution, or data that is recorded directly on the blockchain and validated by the network's consensus mechanism. On-chain data is immutable, transparent, and publicly verifiable.

What happens on-chain

• Transfers — sending cryptocurrency from one address to another
• Smart contract calls — interacting with DApps, DeFi protocols, NFT mints
• Mining rewards — block rewards and transaction fees paid to miners
• Pool payouts — when a mining pool sends earned coins to a miner's wallet

On-chain vs. off-chain

Property	On-chain	Off-chain
Speed	Depends on block time	Instant
Fee	Variable (gas/fee market)	Near zero
Finality	Permanent, immutable	Requires final settlement
Transparency	Fully public	Private or semi-private

Relevance to miners

Every block reward and pool payout is an on-chain transaction. High on-chain fees can make frequent small payouts uneconomical — this is why many pools have minimum payout thresholds.

See also

• Off-chain
• Blockchain
• Fee
• Block reward