Miners are incentivized to validate transactions through a block reward, which is the main incentive for miners to secure the network and validate transactions. When a transaction occurs, it is grouped together with other transactions in a mathematically protected "block" with other transactions that have happened in the same time frame. Miners then use computers with incredible computing power to solve the block mathematically. The first miners to solve the block and validate the transactions are rewarded with bitcoin. The block reward incentivizes miners to make a long-term investment in mining and to continue validating transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain. The sum total of the reward for validating a block is a transaction fee from the initiator of the transaction and the block reward provided by the protocol. Additionally, the sender generally sends some incentives (rewards) in the form of cryptocurrency, in which the transaction takes place, to incentivize the miner for their correct decisions during the transactions.