Its not only orphans, but a compromise of several factors:
For a short blocktime speaks that it shortens the time to the 1st confirmation as well as any following confirmation. You also have less variance in the payouts thus less need for big pools. 1 block every 10 minutes (on average) means one mining party gets a reward every 10 minutes. If you can mine 10 blocks in 10 minutes chances are very high that more parties get a reward.
For a long blocktime speaks that it requires less bandwith because the nodes need to propagate new blocks less often. Also the orphans which are caused by forks and result in wasted hashing power. So a longer blocktime make forks less likely and thus increase security.
Its a tricky balance though as we see with ghash.io. Miners tend to flock to big pools in order to have a steady income, which increases the possibilty of an 1
>50% attack.
Topic: When is a smaller block time worse ? - page 2. (Read 1878 times)
It's orphans. Orphans happen when two miners solve a block at approximately the same time (one one can survive). Assume any blocks that are solved within 5 seconds of each other could possibly cause an orphan. If blocks are normally one minute, blocks within 5 seconds is a 1/12 event (8% orphans). If blocks are 10 minutes, this is a 1/120 event (<1% orphans). These are close to the numbers seen on actual coins.
It's my understanding that in order to successfully double spend you need to be able to mine your own block. And shorter block times makes that alot easier to do. So 10 min block time makes it very hard to double spend in bitcoin.
My understanding is that shorter block time increases orphans but I'm not sure that actually is true.
Yes, bitcoins block time is too long - but it also was the first of the first, not all parameters are going to be perfect on the first of the first.
To be honest I'm impressed at just how good it really is. The long block time is not a fatal flaw.
Yes, bitcoins block time is too long - but it also was the first of the first, not all parameters are going to be perfect on the first of the first.
To be honest I'm impressed at just how good it really is. The long block time is not a fatal flaw.
I was thinking that the developers would have put thought into it , and aimed it for the best possible block length for global adoption.
So , my question was why didn't they go lower ?
To reduce orphans makes sense , but I'm not sure how much of an effect this has.
My understanding is that shorter block time increases orphans but I'm not sure that actually is true.
Yes, bitcoins block time is too long - but it also was the first of the first, not all parameters are going to be perfect on the first of the first.
To be honest I'm impressed at just how good it really is. The long block time is not a fatal flaw.
Yes, bitcoins block time is too long - but it also was the first of the first, not all parameters are going to be perfect on the first of the first.
To be honest I'm impressed at just how good it really is. The long block time is not a fatal flaw.
With Litecoin at 2.5 minutes and Dogecoin at 1 minute , they seem faster to confirm as compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes.
This is one of the few features for which Altcoin enthusiasts claim superiority over Bitcoin.
Are there any side-effects to having a lower average block time ?
What if Bitcoin was suddenly hard-forked to have a 5 minute block time , with instantaneously halved reward ?
Would there be any negative effects ?
Does this mean that altcoins with a lower block time are inherently superior to Bitcoin ?
Then at what point does it become a bad idea to reduce block time further ? 30 seconds ? 15 seconds ? 5 seconds ?
This is one of the few features for which Altcoin enthusiasts claim superiority over Bitcoin.
Are there any side-effects to having a lower average block time ?
What if Bitcoin was suddenly hard-forked to have a 5 minute block time , with instantaneously halved reward ?
Would there be any negative effects ?
Does this mean that altcoins with a lower block time are inherently superior to Bitcoin ?
Then at what point does it become a bad idea to reduce block time further ? 30 seconds ? 15 seconds ? 5 seconds ?
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