How Does the Block Propagation Speed Affect the Rate of Stale Blocks?

Block propagation speed is the time it takes for a newly mined block to be broadcast and validated across the entire network. If this speed is slow, the chance of two miners finding a valid block at nearly the same time increases.

This results in one of the blocks being orphaned (a stale block). Faster propagation speed is crucial for reducing the stale block rate and minimizing wasted mining effort.