When Things Go Wrong

The share chain is a convenience, not a source of truth: Bitcoin checks every settlement. So the question for each failure is only how much time or work it wastes.

• Two provers both finish the final job. Either result makes the same settlement except for who gets paid for that job. Whichever confirms is the round’s settlement, and every node follows it (2026-11-07).
• A round’s final proof never arrives. Nodes catch up from the chain instead of waiting forever (2026-11-08).
• A rival outside the share chain can prove its own batch and send it: the pool accepts any valid proof. To win, it must out-prove the network every block. It wastes work; it cannot steal.
• A majority of proving power can choose which ordinary payments get into batches, for as long as it holds the majority, the way a majority of hash power can on Bitcoin. It cannot steal (Bitcoin checks every settlement), keep deposits (they can be cancelled or are returned) or block exits (the inbox and the solo exit).
• Withholding a contribution’s data orphans the shares that reference it. The cost is the attacker’s own job results.
• Spam shares carry no new job result, so nobody builds on them.