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What Is a ‘Difficulty Bomb’ in the Context of a Blockchain Network?

A difficulty bomb is a mechanism intentionally coded into a blockchain, notably Ethereum, that progressively increases the mining difficulty exponentially over time. Its purpose is to force a network transition to a new consensus mechanism, such as Proof-of-Stake, by making Proof-of-Work mining eventually impossible or highly unprofitable.

How Does ‘Force Majeure’ Apply to Smart Contract Execution Failures?
How Does the Transition of Ethereum to a Full PoS System Impact Its Finality?
How Does the Size of the Hash Digest Affect the Security of the Signature?
Why Is Network Effect a Critical Factor in Valuing Early-Stage Protocols?