Block Reward vs Proof of Work

The block reward is the amount of newly created cryptocurrency that miners receive for successfully mining a new block, serving as both an incentive for securing the network and the mechanism for distributing new coins into circulation.

Proof of Work (PoW) is a consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve complex computational puzzles by finding valid hash outputs, with the winner earning the right to add the next block and receive cryptocurrency rewards while securing the network through computational expenditure.