Once a new block is successfully mined in the pool, the earnings do not immediately enter the payable balance; they must go through a "confirmation" process by the blockchain network. Below is a detailed explanation of the confirmation mechanism.

1、What are Block Confirmations?

Block confirmation refers to the process where new blocks are linked to the blockchain after a specific block has been generated.

1 Confirmation: Means the block has been packaged by a miner and written into the blockchain.

N Confirmations: Means that after that specific block, N-1 new blocks have been generated in the network.

Principle: As the number of confirmations increases, the probability of the block being tampered with or experiencing a "rollback" (i.e., becoming an Orphan Block) decreases exponentially.

2、Why set a Confirmation Threshold?

Setting a confirmation count is a core mechanism to protect the safety of miners' assets. Its primary purposes include:

Preventing Double-Spending Attacks: Ensuring each mining reward achieves final consistency across the entire network.

Avoiding Orphan Block Risks: In blockchain competition, some blocks may not be accepted by the main chain due to network synchronization delays. Only blocks that reach sufficient confirmations are considered permanently valid.

Financial Settlement Security: The mining pool only allocates earnings to the miner's account balance after confirming the block is irreversible.

3、Earnings Status Transition

During the confirmation process, your earnings typically go through the following statuses:

1. Immature / Pending:

The block has just been mined and is waiting for network confirmation. At this stage, earnings are recorded but cannot be withdrawn.

2. Confirmed / Mature:

The block has reached the required legal confirmation count set by the network.

Action: The system automatically transfers this portion of earnings from "Immature" to the "Payable Balance."

4、Reference Rules for Mainstream Currency Confirmations

Different blockchain protocols have different required confirmation counts due to varying block generation speeds:

5、FAQ

1. Why has my revenue shown "Immature" for a long time?

This is usually because the network difficulty for that currency is high or the network is congested, causing a slowdown in new block generation. Please wait patiently; as long as the block is not identified as an "orphan," the earnings will eventually turn mature.

2. What happens if an Orphan Block occurs?

If a specific block is ultimately not adopted by the main chain (i.e., confirmation count stops growing and becomes invalid), the earnings generated by that block cannot be distributed. This is part of the blockchain consensus mechanism, and the mining pool cannot intervene.

3. The confirmation number is reached, why hasn't the balance updated?

The mining pool system typically scans the earnings status every few minutes. If the network confirmation count has just reached the threshold, the system may need a short processing time for account reconciliation.

Tips:

Long-term Observation: Since the PPLNS model is linked to block confirmations, it is recommended to observe earnings changes in 24-hour units rather than block by block.

Synchronicity: In Merged Mining, the confirmation processes for the main coin (LTC) and side coins (DOGE) are independent; arrival times may vary.