What does "accepted shares" vs "rejected shares" mean?

In cryptocurrency mining, accepted shares prove a miner's work and determine rewards, while rejected shares—often due to latency or errors—reduce earnings.

Jul 17, 2025 at 01:49 am

Understanding the Concept of Shares in Cryptocurrency Mining

In cryptocurrency mining, especially within proof-of-work (PoW) networks like Bitcoin or Ethereum (before its transition to proof-of-stake), miners contribute their computational power to solve complex cryptographic puzzles. These puzzles are part of the consensus mechanism that secures the blockchain and validates transactions.

Miners submit shares, which are essentially proofs of work done during the mining process. These shares are not actual blocks but rather intermediate results that demonstrate effort and qualify the miner for a portion of the block reward when a valid block is found by the pool or solo miner.

Shares serve as a way to fairly distribute rewards among miners based on the amount of work they contributed.

What Are Accepted Shares?

Accepted shares refer to the number of valid proofs submitted by a miner that meet the difficulty threshold set by the mining pool or network. These shares are accepted because they align with the current target hash required for validation.

• Each accepted share represents a specific amount of work completed by the miner.
• Accepted shares directly correlate with the miner's contribution to finding a valid block.
• These shares are used by pools to calculate how much each miner should be rewarded if a block is successfully mined.

The acceptance of a share depends on whether it meets the current difficulty level configured by the pool. This difficulty can vary depending on the pool's configuration and the miner's hashrate.

What Are Rejected Shares?

Rejected shares are those that do not meet the criteria set by the mining pool or network. They may either be outdated due to the miner working on an old block template or may not meet the required difficulty target.

• Rejected shares do not contribute to the overall mining reward distribution.
• They often occur when there’s high latency between the miner and the mining pool server.
• They can also result from misconfigured mining software or hardware issues.

High rejection rates can significantly reduce a miner’s earnings over time, even if their hashrate appears high.

Why Do Shares Get Rejected?

There are several reasons why a share might be rejected by the mining pool:

• Network latency: If a new block is found while the miner is still submitting work for the previous block, those shares will be rejected.
• Incorrect difficulty settings: If the miner’s difficulty is set too low or too high compared to what the pool expects, the shares may not be accepted.
• Software errors: Bugs in the mining software or incorrect configurations can lead to invalid submissions.
• Hardware instability: Overclocked GPUs or unstable ASICs can produce incorrect hashes leading to rejected shares.

Monitoring rejection rates through mining pool dashboards is crucial for maintaining optimal efficiency.

How to Interpret Accepted vs Rejected Shares in Mining Parnings

When reviewing your mining statistics on a pool dashboard, you’ll typically see metrics such as:

• Total accepted shares
• Total rejected shares
• Rejection percentage (rejected / total shares)

A healthy mining setup usually maintains a rejection rate below 1%. Anything above 5% indicates potential issues that need troubleshooting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I reduce my rejected shares without upgrading my hardware?

Yes, optimizing your mining software settings, choosing a closer mining pool server, and ensuring stable internet connectivity can significantly lower rejection rates without requiring hardware upgrades.

Q: Does a higher number of accepted shares always mean more earnings?

Not necessarily. While more accepted shares generally indicate more work contributed, earnings also depend on the pool’s payout method (e.g., PPLNS, PPS) and how frequently the pool finds blocks.

Q: How does the mining pool determine if a share is valid?

The pool checks each submitted share against the current network difficulty and ensures it was calculated using the correct block template. If both conditions are met, the share is accepted.

Q: Is it normal to have some rejected shares?

Yes, a small percentage of rejected shares is normal due to network conditions and timing. However, consistently high rejection rates should be investigated.