Encyclopedia How the network works · Entry 219
Rejected and stale mining shares: reading a pool dashboard
In this article
At a glance
Key facts
Separate timing problems from invalid results
Stratum V2 distinguishes successful submissions from errors and can reject submissions against invalidated jobs or hashes above the required target. Braiins documents connectivity, latency and stale jobs among causes of rejected work in its proxy setup.
A rejection total alone does not identify the cause. Compare error messages, pool-side accepted work, connectivity and the timing of job changes. Avoid applying a product-specific threshold as a universal Bitcoin rule.
Use matching work units and time windows
Suppose a period contains 10,000 submissions at the same share difficulty, of which 150 are rejected. The rejected submission rate is 1.5%. If submissions have different difficulties, counting them equally can misrepresent the proportion of work rejected.
Compare like-for-like intervals. A lifetime device counter and a pool’s recent five-minute estimate are not measurements of the same period.
Pool hash rate is inferred from successful submissions
A device can report local calculations while the pool estimates work from shares it receives. Random variation, aggregation and reporting intervals affect the second display. Braiins explains why upstream and downstream estimates can have different short-run volatility.
A short dip alone is not proof that physical hashing stopped. Persistent discrepancies deserve investigation using actual logs and accepted-work records, especially if connection failures or rejected work rise at the same time.
Direct answers
Questions people ask
Is every rejected share caused by broken hardware?
No. Latency, stale jobs and connectivity can also cause rejection. Inspect the reason and compare the machine and pool records before assigning a cause.
Is one accepted share the same thing as finding a Bitcoin block?
Usually not. A pool uses an easier share target to measure work. Only a subset also meets the Bitcoin network target and can be part of a valid candidate block.
Inspect the evidence
The answer and key facts have stable claim links. These records retain the scope and qualification when reused.
Revision history
- — First publication after primary-source research and separate automated verification.
Source register
Sources and references
Retrieval dates and locators are recorded individually.- MiningBitcoin developer documentation
Hardware work, candidate blocks and pool shares; historical examples are not current equipment recommendations.
Locator: Mining; Solo Mining; Pool Mining; Block Prototypes · Version / scope: Developer guide; historical implementation details require qualification · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T18:53:53.955ZOpen source - Mining ProtocolStratum V2 specification
Mining jobs, channel types, share submission and custom-job support.
Locator: 5.1 Job; 5.3.11–14 SubmitShares messages; 5.3.17 SetNewPrevHash; 5.3.21 SetTarget · Retrieved: 2026-10-02T18:53:58.669ZOpen source
Research and drafting use AI assistance. A separate automated review checks claims against primary sources; no external expert or named human review is implied. Publication, substantive editing, source retrieval and verification are recorded separately. This version was independently checked by an automated reviewer on 2 October 2026.
Editorial method and correctionsDegrees of Satoshi editorial project. “Rejected and stale mining shares: reading a pool dashboard.” Published 2026-10-02; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/bitcoin-rejected-mining-shares/