Don't forget that the difficulty is based on previous performance, to roughly get 2016 blocks per fortnight.
the Total Network Hashrate is now around 8-11TH/s, and the difficulty is still set for 14+TH/s hashrate (or thereabouts), and so there are fewer machines trying to find a harder number. It will take more than 2 weeks to get a new block cycle...by probably a week more, and the numbers you see will be normal until the new difficulty is calculated and then it'll go to something you're more used to.
If the number of machines mining drops further, to match price drops, it'll always take more than a fortnight, just like as hashrates have been increasing, it's always taken less than a fortnight.
the Total Network Hashrate is now around 8-11TH/s, and the difficulty is still set for 14+TH/s hashrate (or thereabouts), and so there are fewer machines trying to find a harder number. It will take more than 2 weeks to get a new block cycle...by probably a week more, and the numbers you see will be normal until the new difficulty is calculated and then it'll go to something you're more used to.
If the number of machines mining drops further, to match price drops, it'll always take more than a fortnight, just like as hashrates have been increasing, it's always taken less than a fortnight.
That's a good point. Average block time is rising due to the network being "underpowered". The reverse can also be true. IF network power is rising then aver block time will be less than 10 minutes until difficulty adjusts.
