user4070: I've seen this graph pop up around the interwebs, but never with an explicit explanation:
http://blockchain.info/charts/network-deficit
My question is how is this metric generated? Is it a comparison of the power and hardware costs versus returns?

user153: This was described as showing the difference between transaction fees and the bitcoin miners income from block rewards.
So if a Block has 25 BTC generated and 1 BTC of fees, the network deficit would be 24 BTC.  The amount in USDs is calculated at the spot rate at the time.

4070: <p>I've seen this graph pop up around the interwebs, but never with an explicit explanation:</p>

<p><a href="http://blockchain.info/charts/network-deficit" rel="nofollow">http://blockchain.info/charts/network-deficit</a></p>

<p>My question is how is this metric generated? Is it a comparison of the power and hardware costs versus returns?</p>
 153: <p>This was <a href="http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=100565.msg1100141#msg1100141" rel="nofollow">described</a> as showing the difference between transaction fees and the bitcoin miners income from block rewards.</p>

<p>So if a Block has 25 BTC generated and 1 BTC of fees, the network deficit would be 24 BTC.  The amount in USDs is calculated at the spot rate at the time.</p>
