# Bitcoin's Security Budget Becomes a Live Design Question

As the block subsidy declines and fee-saving upgrades advance, research and industry keep focusing on how miners will be paid, pushing miners toward side revenue and keeping reward-structure changes in the protocol debate.

- Conviction: 38 / 100 (weakening)
- Horizon: Emerging (watchlist)
- Tracking since: 2026-11-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Last updated: 2026-11-12T14:14:59.541Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/crypto/trends/bitcoin-security-budget-question
- Publisher: Polylog
- Affected regions: Global

## Recent score history

- 2026-11-11: 40
- 2026-11-12: 38

## Recent evidence

- [confirms] Bitcoin Developers Merge Three Signature-Aggregation Proposals That Could Cut Fees by Up to 27% (2026-11-11): The merged signature-aggregation drafts would cut transaction fees by up to 27%. That shrinks the fee revenue miners will depend on as the subsidy falls, so the upgrade's efficiency gain feeds directly into the question of how miners get paid.
- [confirms] New Research Finds Bitcoin Mining Built Around Useful Work Could Increase Energy Use (2026-11-11): One new paper finds 'useful work' mining designs could increase energy use. A second proposes splitting block rewards so miners stop undercutting each other once fees replace the subsidy. Meanwhile Canaan's rig sales fell 96% year on year, a sign of stress on miner economics, while reward-structure redesign stays live in research.