7
If you download a bootstrap copy of the blockchain through torrents, it will be faster than getting that same data through the Bitcoin network.
Ofcourse the BitTorrent protocol is more optimized for bulk data transfer, but is there any other reason for the huge difference in bandwidth? Is it artificially limited in the client right now, or by design?
4
I found this post by Jeff Garzik (one of the developers):
Initial blockchain download occurs from one peer at a time. If that peer is slow, then your entire blockchain download is slow. Yes, it's stupid and yes it needs fixing (patches welcome).
0
Bitcoin blockchain download is slow because on default bitcoind will connect to random nodes (home connections for example).
See What is the fastest possible way to download the blockchain?
.... too accelerate the download.
Bitcoin and torrent are two different things, there are no trusted sources for the blockchain in the torrent network as im aware - INSTEAD you can predefine trusted node servers in the bitcoin.conf which can be found on various "trusted sites" – Aurigae – 2015-10-18T04:30:39.103