Orphan Blocks

Orphan Blocks are blocks that were successfully mined but are not part of the main, longest chain because they were not adopted by the network. This usually occurs due to network latency or simultaneous block discovery, resulting in temporary forks.

While these blocks do not contribute to the finality of transactions, they represent wasted computational work and can impact the overall efficiency of the network. For traders, the presence of orphan blocks is a sign of network instability and an increased risk of transaction delays.

They are a natural consequence of the distributed nature of blockchain and are managed through specific fork choice rules.