3 ms·
In fact, if you take into account the time it takes to propagate a block across the network, shorter confirmation times may actually lead to less security. e.x
by tlrobinson 13y ago
In fact, if you take into account the time it takes to propagate a block across the network, shorter confirmation times may actually lead to less security.
e.x. if the confirmation time is 60 seconds, and it takes 30 seconds to propagate a block across the network, the miner that just mined a block will have a huge advantage in computing the next block.
- drcode 13y agoWell, if we start getting pedantic :-) smaller blocks also mean more block headers, which also hampers performance. On the flip side, I don't think mined blocks typically take more than five seconds, due to the efficiency of the highly-branching network (though I haven't looked at the numbers to confirm this...) But I admit I hadn't thought about that extra detail, thank for pointing it out.