A share in Bitcoin mining is a proof-of-work solution that meets a lower difficulty target than the full Bitcoin network difficulty. Your miner submits shares to prove it is actively hashing, measure its performance, and ensure that if it solves a valid block, the solution is captured and broadcast immediately. Whether you are solo mining with a Bitaxe Gamma 602 at 1.2 TH/s or running a six-unit NerdQaxe++ cluster at 36+ TH/s, every share your miner submits brings you one step closer to a block.
Key Bitcoin Mining Terms You Should Know
Before diving into how shares work, here are the essential terms every home miner needs to understand. These definitions apply whether you’re running a single Bitaxe Gamma 602 or a six-unit NerdQaxe++ cluster.
Share
A Bitcoin mining share is a unit of proof that your miner is actively hashing. Each share is a hash result that meets a minimum difficulty threshold set by your mining pool. Shares track your miner’s work toward finding a valid block — they do not earn BTC on their own.
Hashrate
Hashrate is the speed at which your miner generates hash calculations, measured in GH/s (gigahashes per second) or TH/s (terahashes per second). A Bitaxe Gamma 602 hashes at approximately 1.2 TH/s. Higher hashrate means more shares submitted per hour.
Accepted Share
An Bitcoin accepted mining share is one your pool received and validated before the current block was found. Accepted shares confirm your miner is working correctly and contributing hashrate to the network.
Rejected Share
A rejected Bitcoin mining share is one the pool could not validate, typically caused by stale data, incorrect configurations, or communication errors. A healthy miner should have a rejection rate below 2%.
Stale Share
A stale Bitcoin mining share arrives at the pool after a new block has already been found, making the work obsolete. Stale shares are common and usually caused by network latency — not a hardware problem.
Best Difficulty
Best difficulty is the highest-difficulty share your miner has ever submitted. Displayed on the AxeOS dashboard, this number represents how close your miner has come to finding a valid block. A higher best difficulty means a closer near-miss.
Network Difficulty
Network difficulty is the global threshold a hash must meet to be accepted as a valid Bitcoin block. As of early 2026, network difficulty exceeds 110 trillion. This number adjusts every 2,016 blocks (roughly two weeks) based on total network hashrate.
Share Difficulty
Share difficulty is the minimum threshold set by your pool for accepting shares. Solo CKPool sets this much lower than network difficulty so your miner can submit shares frequently, proving it is working even though a valid block requires far higher difficulty.
Solo Mining
Solo mining means mining independently rather than combining hashrate with other miners. If your miner finds a valid block, you receive the entire block reward — currently 3.125 BTC. as of February 2026, solo miners have won over $1 million in confirmed block rewards mining solo with open-source hardware.
Pool Mining
Pool mining combines your hashrate with thousands of other miners to find blocks more frequently. Rewards are split proportionally based on Bitcoin mining shares each miner contributes. Payouts are smaller but more consistent than solo mining.
Block Reward
The block reward is the BTC paid to the miner or pool that finds a valid block. Currently 3.125 BTC per block after the April 2024 halving. The next halving will reduce this to 1.5625 BTC around 2028.
Nonce
A nonce is a random number your miner changes with every hash attempt. The miner adjusts the nonce repeatedly, trying to produce a hash below the current network difficulty target. Each nonce attempt is one guess at solving the block.
Hash
A hash is the output of the SHA-256 algorithm applied to a block header. Each hash is a 64-character hexadecimal string. If the hash value falls below the network difficulty target, the block is valid and the miner wins the block reward.
AxeOS
AxeOS is the open-source firmware that runs on all Bitaxe miners. Built on the ESP32-S3 microcontroller, AxeOS provides a browser-based dashboard over your local Wi-Fi network where you can monitor hashrate, shares, temperature, and best difficulty in real time.
Public Pool
Public Pool is a free, open-source solo mining pool that miners can self-host on their own Bitcoin node using. Unlike Solo CKPool, Public Pool charges no fees and can be self hosted directly on your own node.
What Exactly Is a Mining Share?
Every Bitcoin miner performs the same fundamental task: it takes the current block header data, combines it with a variable called a nonce, and runs the result through the SHA-256 hash function. The output is a 64-character hexadecimal string. If that output falls below the current network difficulty target, the miner has solved a block worth approximately 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees.
The network difficulty target in 2026 is extraordinarily high. A single Bitaxe Gamma 602 hashing at 1.2 TH/s would statistically need decades to find one block on its own. But the miner does not sit silent during that time. It continuously submits shares, which are hash results that meet a much easier difficulty threshold set by the mining pool or solo mining proxy you connect to.
Think of it this way: if solving a block requires rolling a 10-digit number exactly right, a share is proof that you rolled the first 4 or 5 digits correctly. The share itself does not earn you Bitcoin, but it proves your hardware is working, it quantifies how much hashing you have done, and it ensures the system catches any result that does meet the full network target.
Why Do Solo Miners Submit Mining Shares?
Solo miners do not split rewards with anyone. If your miner solves a block, you keep the entire reward. So why submit shares at all? Because even solo miners connect through a pool interface or solo mining proxy, most commonly Public-Pool, to handle block construction and submission on their behalf.
Public-Pool assigns your miner a share difficulty target. Every time your miner finds a hash below that target, it submits the result as a share. This serves three critical purposes for home miners.
Performance verification. Share submissions are the only way to confirm your miner is actually hashing. If your Bitaxe stops submitting shares, you know something is wrong before you waste hours or days of idle time. The AxeOS dashboard on every Bitaxe displays your accepted shares count, rejected shares count, and best difficulty achieved in real time.
Hashrate estimation. Your pool-side hashrate is calculated from how frequently you submit shares. A Bitaxe Gamma 602 running at 1.2 TH/s will submit shares at a predictable average rate. If shares slow down, the pool reports a lower hashrate, alerting you to potential issues with your Wi-Fi connection, power supply, or ASIC chip temperature.
Block capture. Every share has a small but real chance of also meeting the full network difficulty. When that happens, the pool immediately broadcasts the solution as a solved block. Without the share submission pipeline, your miner could theoretically find a valid block hash but have no mechanism to submit it to the Bitcoin network in time.
How Shares Work on Public-Pool and Other Pools
When you connect a Bitaxe or NerdQaxe++ to Public-Pool, the pool assigns your miner a share difficulty based on your hashrate. Smaller miners receive a lower share difficulty so they can submit shares frequently enough for accurate hashrate tracking. The pool’s goal is for every connected miner to submit a share roughly every few seconds.
Here is what happens with each share submission:
Your miner hashes block header data with different nonce values billions of times per second. When one of those hashes falls below your assigned share difficulty, the miner sends that result to Solo CKPool. The pool verifies the hash, records it as an accepted share, and checks whether the hash also meets the full Bitcoin network difficulty. If it does, CKPool broadcasts it to the Bitcoin network as a solved block and the full reward is paid to your configured Bitcoin address.
This exact process is how open-source Bitcoing mining devices have won over $1 million in BTC block rewards. On November 21, 2025, at block height #924,569, a customer running six Bitaxe Gamma 602 units on Solo CKPool submitted a share that met the full network difficulty at a best-ever difficulty of 221.39 T. The reward of 3.08349744 BTC, worth approximately $266,000, was paid directly to the miner’s Bitcoin address.
Share Types: Accepted, Rejected, and Stale
Not every share your miner submits is treated equally. Understanding the three share types helps you diagnose performance issues and optimize your setup.
Accepted shares are valid proof-of-work solutions that meet your pool’s difficulty target and arrive on time. These are what you want. A healthy mining setup should show 99%+ accepted shares. Every accepted share contributes to your pool-side hashrate calculation and represents a chance, however small, of solving a block.
Rejected shares are solutions that fail the pool’s validation check. Common causes include submitting a share for a block template that has already been superseded by a new block, or a corrupted data transmission. A rejection rate above 1–2% typically points to a connectivity issue. If you are mining on a Bitaxe over Wi-Fi, try moving it closer to your router or switching to a less congested 2.4 GHz channel.
Stale shares are a subset of rejected shares where the timing was the problem. If a new Bitcoin block is found by someone else while your share is in transit, the share arrives too late and is marked stale. Stale shares are unavoidable in solo mining because the Bitcoin network produces a new block roughly every 10 minutes, and any work done on the previous block template becomes irrelevant the instant a new block is found.
| Share Type | What It Means | Impact on Mining | Common Cause |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accepted | Valid proof-of-work, delivered on time | Counts toward hashrate; could solve a block | Normal operation |
| Rejected | Failed pool validation | Wasted work; no hashrate credit | Data corruption, bad Wi-Fi signal |
| Stale | Valid work, but arrived after a new block was found | Wasted work; unavoidable in small amounts | Network latency, new block found |
Share Difficulty vs. Network Difficulty
These two difficulty values operate on the same mathematical scale but serve completely different purposes. Understanding the difference is essential for interpreting your mining dashboard correctly.
Network difficulty is the threshold a hash must beat to solve a Bitcoin block. As of early 2026, network difficulty exceeds 110 trillion. This number adjusts every 2,016 blocks (roughly every two weeks) to maintain the 10-minute average block time. When more miners join the network, difficulty increases. When miners leave, it decreases. Solo Satoshi’s network difficulty guide explains this adjustment mechanism in detail.
Share difficulty is the much easier threshold your pool assigns to your miner. For a Bitaxe Gamma 602 on Public-Pool, share difficulty is typically set so low that you submit multiple shares per minute. The pool uses these frequent submissions to accurately estimate your hashrate and monitor your uptime.
The key insight: every share your miner submits is evaluated against both the share difficulty and the network difficulty simultaneously. Most shares clear the share difficulty bar but fall far short of the network difficulty. Occasionally, once in a statistically long while, a share also clears the network difficulty bar. That share becomes a solved block.
Best Difficulty: What It Means on Your Dashboard
AxeOS and most mining pool dashboards display a metric called “best difficulty.” This is the highest difficulty value achieved by any single mining share your miner has ever submitted. It represents the closest your miner has come to solving a block.
For context, if your Bitaxe Gamma 602 shows a best difficulty of 10 billion, that means one of your shares had a difficulty 10 billion times harder than the minimum share difficulty, but still fell short of the 110+ trillion network difficulty required to solve a block. It is a useful metric for tracking your luck over time, but it has no predictive value. Each hash attempt is independent, so a high best difficulty does not mean you are “due” for a block.
Users have achieved remarkable best difficulty numbers. The six Bitaxe Gamma 602 units that solved block #924,569 on November 21, 2025 hit a best difficulty of 221.39 T, exceeding the network difficulty at that time and earning 3.08349744 BTC.
Real-World Examples: Shares That Became Blocks
The best way to understand shares is to see what happens when one of them clears the full network difficulty. Solo Satoshi has documented five confirmed Bitcoin block finds by customers using open-source home mining hardware, each of which started as an ordinary share submission.
| Block Height | Date | Hardware | Total Hashrate | Pool | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #853,742 | July 24, 2024 | Bitaxe Supra | ~500 GH/s | Solo CKPool | ~3.15 BTC (~$200K) |
| #887,212 | March 10, 2025 | Bitaxe Ultra (6-unit cluster) | ~3.3 TH/s | Solo CKPool | ~3.15 BTC (~$250K) |
| #920,440 | October 27, 2025 | NerdQaxe++ Rev 6 (6-unit cluster + 1 Avalon) | ~130 TH/s | Self-hosted Public Pool | ~3.15 BTC (~$342K) |
| #924,569 | November 21, 2025 | Bitaxe Gamma 602 (6-unit cluster) | ~5.4 TH/s | Solo CKPool | ~3.08 BTC (~$266K) |
The customer who solved block #920,440 with NerdQaxe++ Rev 6 units purchased from Solo Satoshi used the $342,000 reward to pay off his home. Each of these blocks started as a single share that happened to clear the full network difficulty target.
How to Monitor Your Shares
Every Bitaxe runs AxeOS firmware, which is accessible via any web browser on your local network. The AxeOS dashboard displays your accepted shares, rejected shares, best difficulty, hashrate, and ASIC chip temperature in real time. You can also monitor your share submissions on your pool’s website. On Public-Pool entering your Bitcoin payout address shows your current hashrate, shares submitted, and best share difficulty.
For the NerdQaxe++, the built-in display shows real-time hashrate and share statistics directly on the device. Solo Satoshi’s NerdQaxe++ setup guide walks through connecting to your pool and interpreting share data for the first time.
A few benchmarks for healthy share performance with common Solo Satoshi hardware:
| Device | Typical Hashrate | Expected Share Rate | Healthy Rejection Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitaxe Supra | 650 GH/s | Several per minute | < 2% |
| Bitaxe Gamma 602 | 1.2 TH/s | Several per minute | < 2% |
| Bitaxe Duo 650 | 1.63 TH/s | Several per minute | < 2% |
| Bitaxe GT 801 | 2.15 TH/s | Several per minute | < 2% |
| NerdQaxe++ | 6+ TH/s | Multiple per minute | < 2% |
Shares in Solo Mining vs. Pool Mining
The mechanics of shares differ between solo mining and traditional pool mining, and understanding the distinction matters when choosing your mining strategy.
In pool mining, every accepted Bitcoin mining share directly earns you a fraction of the next block reward, proportional to your contribution relative to all other pool members. Pool reward systems like PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) and PPS (Pay Per Share) use your share count to calculate payouts. More shares submitted means more consistent, smaller payouts.
In solo mining through a proxy like Public-Pool, shares do not earn fractional rewards. They serve only as performance monitoring and block capture mechanisms. You earn nothing until one of your shares clears the full network difficulty. When it does, you keep the entire block reward, currently approximately 3.125 BTC plus fees. This is why solo mining is sometimes called lottery mining: each share is a lottery ticket, and the jackpot is the full block reward.
For home miners running low-hashrate devices like Bitaxe, solo mining is the most common approach. The odds of finding a block are low for any individual miner, but the payout when it happens is life-changing. The Solo Satoshi mining calculator helps you estimate your statistical odds based on your hashrate and the current network difficulty.
How to Increase Your Bitcoin Mining Shares (and Your Odds)
More shares mean more hashing, which means a higher probability of finding a block. Here are practical ways to maximize your share output with Solo Satoshi hardware.
Overclock your ASIC chip. Every Bitaxe model allows frequency and voltage adjustments through AxeOS. A Bitaxe Gamma 602 can often be pushed from its stock 1.2 TH/s to 1.3 TH/s or higher with careful tuning. Solo Satoshi’s overclocking guide covers safe voltage and frequency ranges for BM1370-based miners.
Upgrade your cooling. Higher hashrates generate more heat. The best cooling solutions for Bitaxe include aftermarket heatsinks and improved fan configurations that keep ASIC temperatures low enough to sustain higher clock speeds without throttling.
Run multiple miners. Each additional Bitaxe or NerdQaxe++ you add to your setup multiplies your total hashrate and share output proportionally. The customers who have found blocks were running multi-unit clusters. Six Bitaxe Gamma 602 units provide approximately 7.2 TH/s of combined hashrate for under $800 in hardware cost.
Ensure stable Wi-Fi. All Bitaxe models connect via 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only. Unstable connections cause rejected and stale shares, wasting hashing work. Place your miner within clear line of sight of your router, or use a dedicated access point for your mining devices.
Related Guides
Continue learning about Bitcoin home mining with these Solo Satoshi resources:
What is Bitaxe? – Complete guide to the world’s first open-source Bitcoin ASIC miner.
What is a Solo Miner? – How solo mining works and why home miners choose it.
Understanding Network Difficulty – How Bitcoin adjusts mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks.
Bitcoin Lottery Mining Guide – The economics and strategy behind solo mining.
How to Start Bitcoin Mining – The ultimate beginner’s guide to mining from home in 2026.
Has Bitaxe Found a Block? – Every confirmed block find with dates, hardware, and on-chain proof.
Bitcoin Mining Calculator – Estimate your odds and electricity costs based on your hashrate.
Solo Mining with Umbrel and Bitaxe – Run your own full node and mine against it.
NerdQaxe++ Overclocking Guide – Push your quad-chip miner to maximum performance safely.
Guy Chouinard
I really learned a lot from reading this, the support you provide to your customers is nothing short of outstanding. Thank you for this and AA your contributions to the hobby mining community.