diff --git a/doc/release-notes.md b/doc/release-notes.md
--- a/doc/release-notes.md
+++ b/doc/release-notes.md
@@ -7,3 +7,6 @@
    which is replaced by a `dummy` argument for backwards compatibility with
    clients using positional arguments. The RPC is still used to change the
    apparent fee-rate of the transaction by using the `fee_delta` argument.
+ - The default `-blockmintxfee` for mining has been set to 0. This change
+   does not affect normal operation since the transaction relay fee rate
+   `-minrelaytxfee` still defaults to a 1000 sat/kB floor.
diff --git a/src/policy/policy.h b/src/policy/policy.h
--- a/src/policy/policy.h
+++ b/src/policy/policy.h
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
  * Default for -blockmintxfee, which sets the minimum feerate for a transaction
  * in blocks created by mining code.
  */
-static const Amount DEFAULT_BLOCK_MIN_TX_FEE_PER_KB(1000 * SATOSHI);
+static const Amount DEFAULT_BLOCK_MIN_TX_FEE_PER_KB(0 * SATOSHI);
 /**
  * The maximum size for transactions we're willing to relay/mine.
  */
diff --git a/src/test/miner_tests.cpp b/src/test/miner_tests.cpp
--- a/src/test/miner_tests.cpp
+++ b/src/test/miner_tests.cpp
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@
     const std::string m_reason;
 };
 
-static CFeeRate blockMinFeeRate = CFeeRate(DEFAULT_BLOCK_MIN_TX_FEE_PER_KB);
+static CFeeRate blockMinFeeRate = CFeeRate(1000 * SATOSHI);
 
 static BlockAssembler AssemblerForTest(const CChainParams &params,
                                        const CTxMemPool &mempool) {