Uncle
A structured type representing an uncle (ommer) block header. Uncle blocks are valid blocks that were mined but not included in the main chain. They were relevant in Ethereum’s proof-of-work era.Uncle blocks are a legacy concept from Ethereum’s proof-of-work era. Since The Merge (September 2022), Ethereum uses proof-of-stake and no longer produces uncle blocks.
Overview
UncleType represents a complete block header with all fields required by the Ethereum protocol:
- Block identification (parent hash, number)
- State roots (state, transactions, receipts)
- Mining data (difficulty, nonce, mixHash)
- Resource tracking (gas limit, gas used)
- Metadata (timestamp, extra data, logs bloom)
Type Definition
Construction
from
Create an uncle block from its component fields:Field Reference
Block Identification
State Roots
Mining Data
Resource Tracking
Metadata
Uncle Block Economics
In proof-of-work Ethereum, uncle blocks served multiple purposes:Reward Structure
- Uncle reward: Miner receives (8 - depth) / 8 of block reward
- Nephew reward: Main block miner receives 1/32 of block reward per uncle
- Maximum depth: Uncles must be within 6 blocks of the including block
- Maximum uncles: 2 uncles per block
Historical Context
Uncle blocks helped secure proof-of-work Ethereum by:- Reducing centralization: Miners with network latency disadvantages still received rewards
- Increasing security: More total hashpower contributed to chain security
- Incentivizing propagation: Miners were incentivized to propagate blocks quickly
Related Types
- BlockHash - Block hash type
- BlockNumber - Block number type
- Address - Ethereum address type
- Hash - Generic 32-byte hash type
- Uint256 - 256-bit unsigned integer
Use Cases
- Historical blockchain analysis
- Archive node implementations
- Block reward calculations
- Chain reorganization analysis
- Ethereum protocol research

