Bitcoin Block Miner Screensaver
The Block Miner screensaver is a live view of the Bitcoin network — the mempool filling with unconfirmed transactions and fresh blocks being mined — with current fee rates, from the key-less mempool.space API. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
How the Block Miner screensaver works
The saver polls mempool.space's free API for the latest mined blocks, the pending mempool, and recommended fee rates — no key needed.
Recent blocks are drawn as a row of stacked cubes labelled with height, transaction count and size; when a new block is mined, it slides in.
The mempool waiting area fills with bands built from the live fee histogram, low fees cool and high fees hot, so you can see congestion at a glance.
A small gauge shows the current fastest, 30-minute and 1-hour fee rates in sats per virtual byte.
A worked example
You'll see the chain tip climb — say block #955,807 with ~1,340 tx — a new orange cube clattering in each time a block is found, while the mempool swells and shrinks and the fee gauge tracks how busy the network is.
Settings & tips
- Refresh sets how often the network data is re-fetched.
- Accent recolours the Bitcoin-orange highlights.
- Background sets the panel backdrop.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this live Bitcoin data?
- Yes. Blocks, mempool size and fee rates come live from mempool.space and update on the refresh interval you set.
- Does it need an API key or wallet?
- No. It uses the free, key-less mempool.space API and never touches any wallet. It only needs an internet connection.
- What are the fee numbers?
- They're recommended fee rates in sats per virtual byte — roughly what you'd pay for fast, 30-minute or 1-hour confirmation right now.
- Is any of this financial advice?
- No. It's a display of public network activity for ambiance, not advice of any kind.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.