What is Ommer Block? Two blocks can be created simultaneously by the network. When this happens, one block will be left. This residual block is called an ommer block. In the past, they were called uncle blocks, referring to the family relationship used to describe the position of a block in the blockchain.
Ommer blocks are created on the Ethereum blockchain when two blocks are created and submitted to the ledger at almost the same time. Only one can enter the ledger.
Ommer Blocks are similar to Bitcoin orphans but have integrated usage, unlike their Bitcoin counterparts.
Ethereum miners or validators are rewarded for creating ommer blocks in the Ethereum system through transaction fees to pay for their work.
Understanding Ommer Blocks In public blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin, it is important to use methods that ensure the data in the blockchain is verified and added through consensus. It is equally important to keep the data from being altered. Many blockchains use a data structure called a Merkle tree. Merkle trees define ancestral relationships for data blocks. Information from the previous block is fed into the new block, similar to DNA being passed down between generations. This creates the concept of parent blocks, parent siblings, children, and siblings similar to a graphical representation of a family tree. Here’s how it works—the first block in the tree can be named block A. Subsequent blocks created from block A will be considered a child of block A and will include its own A plus information.
Ethereum is transitioning from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus. Under the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, ommer blocks can still be produced and in exchange for transaction fees.
This block can be called block B but can be represented as B a . B is the name of the new block, and “a” refers to the data from the parent block. This parent/child relationship continues as more blocks are added with information from each previous block. This creates a family tree and blockchain. Now consider if two blocks are validated and created simultaneously from B a. They are blocks C ab and C ab2, sister blocks of the same parent block. Only one can be added to the blockchain—so the network chooses C ab . C ab2 is a fork of the original blockchain but was not added or validated. Finally, another block is mined on the blockchain that stores Cab. This is a D cab block. C ab2 is a sibling to the parent D cab , so C ab2 is an ommer block. Special Considerations These orphaned blocks are, in essence, bugs in the code—a by-product of the mining process. However, Ethereum incentivizes block ommer miners for several reasons:
To allow the creation of more ommer blocks as a by-product of shorter block times and network speed.
To reduce the centralization of incentives for large mining pools. This pool uses large mining farms and claims most of the cryptocurrency rewards, leaving little for individual miners.
To increase network security by complementing work on the main blockchain by allowing work done on ommer blocks to be included.
The Ommer block is intentionally embedded into the Ethereum blockchain using its consensus mechanism validation protocol. What is Ommer (Uncle) Block? Uncle block is the old name for ommer block. The Ethereum developers and community decided that there was no reason to have a gender specific name, so they decided on ommer as the new name. What is the Ethereum Ommer (Uncle) Rate? The ommer level (formerly uncle level) is the rate at which the network generates ommer blocks. Rates change daily and depend on the number of transactions that occur. What is Ethereum’s Ommer (Uncle) Reward? Under the proof-of-work consensus mechanism, the reward for the ommer block is a small percentage of the block reward, plus transaction fees. When Ethereum transitions to proof-of-stake, the ommer block will receive a transaction fee.
In the consensus proof of work (POW) cryptocurrency, which is a chain of blocks called blockchain, is composed of several blocks that continue to extend like humans from the time of the Prophet Adam to his descendants. This block was born from the mining process carried out by several miners. When the block has been successfully mined, the miner submits a proposal for the block to be included in the blockchain. In the illustration above, let’s assume it’s a blockchain starting with block 1. The green block color indicates that the proposed block has been approved and entered into the blockchain. But for block 2 it turns out that there are 2 miners who both produce. Then only 1 block must be used. Block 2 that is used is green which is referred to as canonical block while block 2 which is orange is referred to as unused uncle block. Where does the mention of uncle (uncle) come from? As written above that blockchain is like a family tree.
So, when block 2 is formed, the next block, block 3, will be considered a child. Well, for block 3 which is green, block 2 which is orange and is rejected is called uncle because it is still the brother of block 2 which is green. Another thing to note is that blocks 1,2,3, including the uncle block, contain cryptographic code that is similar to writing DNA code. So, the data in block 1 will be carried over to block 2 and so on. Well, the canonical block and uncle block also have the same DNA, so they are considered as siblings. Reward Cryptocurrency with Distributed Ledger Technology (DTL) mechanism greatly appreciates the efforts and hard work of the miners who have gone to great lengths to form consensus in an effort to create a decentralized system in an effort to fight centralization. So, even though miners create unused blocks, they will still get rewards, of course the nominal is not full but smaller than canonical blocks.
To find out how much is the reward for the uncle block, we can read it in the Ethereum whitepaper. It turns out that the reward for uncle blocks varies because in one block it can not only create 1 uncle block but many blocks. The full reward will be given for the canonical block which is 2 ETH. Rewards for uncle blocks depend on how recent the block is. The first generation whose proposal is successfully submitted will get a reward of 1.75 ETH, the highest reaching 85%. An example has happened in Ethereum block 8364113. Under the uncle block it is called the uncle inclusion block with a maximum of only 2 blocks and the reward is 0.25 ETH and an example is in Ethereum block 8364139. Uncle inclusion block generation 2 the reward is 0.0625 ETH and the amount will continue to decrease according to generation length with the formula: (Uncle Number + 8 – Block Number) * Miner’s Reward / 8
