How Does the ‘Difficulty Adjustment’ Mechanism Work?
The difficulty adjustment mechanism automatically changes the mining difficulty of a cryptocurrency network, like Bitcoin, to ensure that the average time between blocks remains constant (e.g. 10 minutes for Bitcoin).
It adjusts approximately every two weeks (2016 blocks). If more computing power joins the network, difficulty increases; if power leaves, it decreases.
Glossar
Target Block Time
Block ⎊ The target block time, within cryptocurrency contexts, represents the anticipated duration between successive blocks added to a blockchain.
Difficulty Adjustment
Mechanism ⎊ Difficulty adjustment is a crucial mechanism in proof-of-work PoW blockchain networks, particularly Bitcoin, that automatically recalibrates the computational effort required to mine a new block.
Difficulty Adjustment Mechanism
Algorithm ⎊ Difficulty Adjustment Mechanisms represent a core tenet of blockchain protocol design, dynamically modulating mining or validation difficulty to maintain consistent block times despite fluctuating network hashrate.