Traditionally the term _mining_ in cryptocurrency refers to the process of
contributing compute resources to the network and earning a reward. On the
Blockstack network, however, instead of just mining through computation,
developers can mine by contributing apps to the ecosystem and making
applications the community wants.

![](images/mining-image.png)

Founders that build apps using Blockstack developer tools like Blockstack Auth
get paid each month, in amounts proportional to that month’s app quality
ranking. Blockstack PBC, in cooperation with App.co, currently administers the
payouts. A set of independent _App reviewers_ determines the monthly ranking
during the pilot phase.