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I would like to create a blockchain network which will stay at the same level of complexity, meaning it won't take longer or need stronger hardware to mine. Is such a thing possible?
Is it possible to create a blockchain network which will not increase in difficulty?
Answers
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It is possible, but very stupid to do. If you keep the difficulty the same, hardware will get better and better over time (or just more of it is used to mine your altcoin) and this will cause blocks to be produced faster and faster and faster. This makes attacks much easier to take place too.
1The network would quickly melt down and become unusable as blocks were created faster than they could be propagated across the network. – David Schwartz – 2017-12-20T01:56:02.470
2If complexity does not increase, then miners will be able to mine faster and faster as new hardware becomes available. I'm sure it is possible, but it may not be desirable. – abelenky – 2017-06-15T13:35:40.183
1You might for instance consider what Bitcoin would be like if the network were creating 1 billion new valid blocks per second. That's what it would be if the difficulty had never gone up. – Nate Eldredge – 2017-06-15T13:56:53.960
The plan is to raise the level of difficulty as hardware progresses, my point was that I don't want the size of the blockchain to affect the speed of mining. – Eliahu Horwitz – 2017-06-15T15:31:11.390
@EliahuHorwitz: The size of the blockchain does not affect the speed of mining. – Murch – 2017-06-15T15:32:05.543
Then why does Bitcoin become much harder to mine? Is that by design? – Eliahu Horwitz – 2017-06-15T15:33:55.027
I've invited you to join us in the Bitcoin chat, but I guess your question is answered here already: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/855/5406 https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/5838/5406
– Murch – 2017-06-15T15:44:02.700Great thanks! Write it as an answer and I'll upvote – Eliahu Horwitz – 2017-06-15T15:47:24.800
@Murch thanks, what exactly is Bitcoin chat? I'm new to this tech stack forum... – Eliahu Horwitz – 2017-06-15T15:51:34.330
@EliahuHorwitz: You should have a notification in the top bar (look for a red box with a number in it). – Murch – 2017-06-15T16:00:57.317
@Murch I have another question, when a wallet connects it needs to sync, is that right? Is it the same for a miner? If so, is there a way to make this a matter of milliseconds and not hours? – Eliahu Horwitz – 2017-06-15T16:01:58.587
Let us continue this discussion in chat.
– Murch – 2017-06-15T16:02:15.930@EliahuHorwitz: Did that work for you? – Murch – 2017-06-15T16:08:07.720
@Murch ya, give me 5 minutes to open up my pc and I'll get on the chat – Eliahu Horwitz – 2017-06-15T16:09:05.053