Block Candidate – A Block Candidate is a block that is found and sent to the node to either be confirmed or rejected by the network. 

Block Reward – A Block Reward is the reward provided to the miner for securing the blockchains network through solving complex equations.

Epoch – In simple terms, an Epoch measures a point in time.  With SmartPool an Epoch is measuring each block found by the SmartPool.

Miner – A person or entity securing a blockchains network by running specialized equipment (GPUs, ASIC, and FPGA) to solve equations (by submitting shares) in return for rewards (blocks).

Miner Rewards – Miner Rewards are distributed to the pool’s miners based on the shares that have been submitted to the pool. 

Node – A Node is typically an open-source program that is connected to a network that executes code outside of a web browser to provide persistent data in real time.   This technology is used for literally all web-based content delivered in real time from chat, gaming, streaming video and more.  In this case, the node is used as a p2p network to validate transactions on the Ergo blockchain.

Pool Operator Reward Wallet – This is the wallet that has been generated by the node to collect block rewards.  Rewards are received and distributed after 720 confirmations.

Shares – A share is submitted by the miner to the mining pool as a potential block solution.  Shares are also used to calculate the miner’s portion of block rewards as their contribution to the 

Smart Contract – A Smart Contract is written code that is meant to serve as a standard contract.  These series of codes can be used for endless use cases and should be viewed as a mutual agreement between parties.  In this case, it is done electronically on a blockchain.  

A classic example is any Point-of-sale system, such as a vending machine.  Money is deposited, and product comes out.  While this is a basic example, Smart Contracts can be used for very complex transactions.

SmartPool smart contracts are currently being used to process payments on-chain.  This is the foundation of SmartPool, and many tools will be built on top of this such as SubPooling, Token Distribution, Block Bounties, Adjustable Payments, and more.

Stratum Server – A stratum server is a server that is responsible for handling connections from miners and broadcasts accepted shares and block height for block candidates.

Subpool – Each SubPool is an individual Smart Contract that is currently being used to separate miners into “pools” for payment efficiency.   Future use will allow miners to form their own Subpools with friends and even control the payment scheme.