How Is the ‘Difficulty’ Adjusted in the Bitcoin Mining Process?
The Bitcoin difficulty is adjusted approximately every 2016 blocks, which is roughly every two weeks, regardless of the network's hashing power. The adjustment algorithm targets a 10-minute average block time.
If blocks were found faster than 10 minutes, the difficulty increases; if slower, it decreases. This ensures a consistent supply rate of new Bitcoin.
Glossar
Bitcoin Difficulty
Mechanism ⎊ Bitcoin Difficulty represents the computational hurdle miners must overcome to validate a new block and receive the block reward.
Consistent Supply Rate
Constraint ⎊ Consistent Supply Rate refers to the predetermined and predictable pace at which new units of a cryptocurrency are introduced into circulation.