When a new block is created, it is first given to the miner who successfully solves the proof of work. The winning miner then broadcasts the block to the network, and everyone updates their blockchain accordingly. If two miners solve the proof-of-work roughly simultaneously, then there will be two competing versions of the blockchain. One branch will eventually become longer than the other, and that branch will be considered the valid one. The blocks in the losing department will be called “orphaned.”
There are a few different ways that orphaned blocks can be dealt with:
Depending on how they are dealt with, orphaned blocks can have different impacts on the network:
In conclusion, it is up to the miners to decide which method to use when dealing with orphaned blocks. Most importantly, all invalid blocks are properly dealt with, so they can’t be used to confirm transactions.