Miner nodes compete to extend the chain when it is their turn. They receive work units from the mempool path, find a valid proof, and return it so the mempool can declare a winner and forward the block to storage.
Many participants, limited sets per round
The protocol does not require every miner on the planet to grind on the same block at once. A subset is selected for each round; that keeps energy use proportionate to the work actually needed. Selection uses randomness derived from the shared UNiCORN (see Unicorns and Block mining).
After a block is found
The winning miner's block is sent to the mempool for validation, then to storage. Rewards follow the network’s token rules in the build you use.
Operator surface
The public HTTP area for mining is small compared to mempool and storage; see Miner API and the mining operator guides for installation and runtime flags.