From d2b7b2633547729d9b20ac13bfb84bd00d0f0833 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "judymcconville@roadrunner.com" Date: Tue, 2 May 2017 11:17:21 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Edited ch10.asciidoc with Atlas code editor --- ch10.asciidoc | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/ch10.asciidoc b/ch10.asciidoc index ba022586..b76a5b6a 100644 --- a/ch10.asciidoc +++ b/ch10.asciidoc @@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ This means that a valid block for height 277,316 is one that has a block header [[target]] ==== Retargeting to Adjust Difficulty -As we saw, the target determines the difficulty and therefore affects how long it takes to find a solution to the Proof-of-Work algorithm. This leads to the obvious questions: Why is the difficulty adjustable, who adjusts it, and how? +((("mining and consensus", "mining the block", "retargeting to adjust difficulty")))As we saw, the target determines the difficulty and therefore affects how long it takes to find a solution to the Proof-of-Work algorithm. This leads to the obvious questions: Why is the difficulty adjustable, who adjusts it, and how? Bitcoin's blocks are generated every 10 minutes, on average. This is bitcoin's heartbeat and underpins the frequency of currency issuance and the speed of transaction settlement. It has to remain constant not just over the short term, but over a period of many decades. Over this time, it is expected that computer power will continue to increase at a rapid pace. Furthermore, the number of participants in mining and the computers they use will also constantly change. To keep the block generation time at 10 minutes, the difficulty of mining must be adjusted to account for these changes. In fact, the Proof-of-Work target is a dynamic parameter that is periodically adjusted to meet a 10-minute block interval goal. In simple terms, the target is set so that the current mining power will result in a 10-minute block interval.