Author: Andy Parkins 2011-11-23 10:35:42
Published on: 2011-11-23T10:35:42+00:00
The author discusses a potential solution to a problem with Bitcoin where the network takes a long time to adapt if large numbers of miners suddenly switch off. The proposed solution involves abandoning the target difficulty idea and having every node generate the most difficult block it can while simultaneously listening for the most difficult block generated before time T. T is picked to be the block generation rate, which guarantees a 10-minute block period. The difficulty of the best block per period adjusts with changes in network power. Although this change would increase network traffic, there is no need to broadcast the full block, only the header. The author recognizes that this is a significant change but hopes that it may happen someday when all the wishlist items go into one huge protocol overhaul.
Updated on: 2023-06-04T21:29:50.929861+00:00